Former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel Thursday confessed using the blueprint prepared for Lagos state by Ahmed Bola Tinubu to run his state.
This is as Daniel said he is excited by the All Progressives Congress presidential Candidate’s manifesto on infrastructure.
He spoke in Abuja on Thursday at the one-day symposium dissecting the Asiwaju manifesto. “Renewed Hope 2023: Action plan for better Nigeria.
He said the area of the manifesto where the APC Presidential flag bearer promised to create six regional industrial hubs to tackle infrastructure deficit if elected President in 2023 catches his fancy.
Daniel, in dissecting the Asiwaju manifesto, said the six hubs would help in the infrastructure development of the country.
He described the APC presidential candidate as one who knows what to do and will surely do it, adding that the initiative when implemented would lead to six regional power houses in the country.
Daniel said: “Probably I should make a confession at this stage that sometimes in 1999 after the election of His Excellency, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and by the special grace of God, our incoming president, he set up a transition working group and I had the privilege to be the Chairman of the infrastructure sub-committee at that time.
“It was 20 years ago. So I will therefore simply just come from a slightly different perspective. To say we do not know what we need to do by way of infrastructure is to be begging the question.
“The things that we need to do in infrastructure are very clear in the area of transportation, roads infrastructure and all of that. We all know what we need to do. And I have no doubts in my mind that governments in and out, have been doing their best.
“I definitely want to come from a different angle of what you can call somebody who wants to give a testimony. And I’m happy that most of the narrative that has been going on is about when you give somebody a chance to do something, what has he done with it?
“Of course, in 1999, Distinguished Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu was handed over the state of Lagos, and one can look at how Lagos was in 1999 and how Lagos has been in the last few years.
“I think everybody agrees that there has been a fundamental improvement in all ramifications in the affairs of Lagos. I think that is what is propelling this current narrative.
“Still talking about infrastructure, I must make a few confessions here. When I became governor, in 2003, having become a part and parcel of the past transition committee, it wasn’t difficult for me to run Ogun state.
“All I just used to do was to look at the books that we created when we were working for Lagos state and I was just taking them one by one. And I was implementing and you can call it copycatting, but I must speak this solemn confession as it worked for us perfectly.
“So that is kudos to a man of vision that we are now believing and hoping that come 2023 will be the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“There are a few things that I’ve also seen in the manifesto, which are quite sacrosanct and I want to comment on one, which is really fantastic. It is the creation of what you can call regional power houses.
“Six regions is what we have in this country today. Everybody thinks that the only means of survival of Nigeria as a country is the oil industry, which is domiciled in just one out of the six regions, not quite so.
“So what the manifesto seeks to do is to say it is time for us to refocus for the future. Those other potentials that are in so many other states. I have a feeling that if you really go very strongly into some of the solid minerals that are in certain states, in Kogi, Zamfara and Katsina states, some of us will probably change our state of origin to those places so that we can be part and parcel of what is going on right now. It is an irony and it is part of what I can call the potential of this great nation.”
He added, “What we really need to do is not to start to reinvent the wheel. Day in day out, people have come out to proffer solutions, and we all know what the problem is. We know what we need to do. But I think the real issue is that in Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu we have somebody who knows what to do and who can do it. And that is rarely what we are looking at.”
He also said that he is expecting the Tinubu presidency to replicate what he tried doing in Lagos in the area of infrastructure.
“There isn’t a lot to do with infrastructure with security and let me make a confession here, part of what I’m thrilled about this ticket is our incoming Vice President Senator Shettima.
Of course, when you see the kind of work in terms of security that our incoming Vice President had done in Borno state, I feel quite happy and elated about that combination. Why somebody is looking at infrastructure, somebody is backing him on security. We have a great country that we can look forward to,“ he added.
On her part, Hadiza Bala Usman said that Tinubu’s presidency would sustain what the Muhammadu Buhari administration has put in place if elected in 2023. She said the administration according to the Asiwaju manifesto will ensure full implementation of the intermodal transportation system.
