Posted by By Lekan Sanni on
Despite the spirited efforts of the opposition parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to wrest power from the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Lagos in 2007, Governor Bola Tinubu has said his successor must be from his party.
Despite the spirited efforts of the opposition parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to wrest power from the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Lagos in 2007, Governor Bola Tinubu has said his successor must be from his party.
He added that the person must be of his 'own making" in order to ensure continuity.
Tinubu, who spoke on Tuesday at the presentation of a cheque of N174.9 million to the West African Examination Council (WAEC), being part payment of the N275 million cost of examination for final year students in the state public secondary schools for this year, said the state must guard against those who promised to capture the state.
'Whoever takes over from us must be from our party, of our own making, otherwise they would dismantle what we have put in place," he said.
The governor dismissed the threat posed by the likes of the Minister of Works, Adeseye Ogunlewe, and his former ally, Musiliu Obanikoro, to capture the state in 2007, saying as long as he is in power such dream could not come to pass.
He described the free education policy of his administration as one of the social services that each child should benefit from, even as he noted that free education plays the dual role of empowering the people with the means to function and operate efficiently and effectively.
Tinubu noted that his administration decided on the payment of the examination fees for final year students in the state six years ago on the realisation that most parents are so poor that they are unable to shoulder the responsibility of paying for their wards.
But the governor said that for the state to be able to fulfill the free education promise to its citizens, each state must be allowed to control its resources.
Describing himself as a firm believer in true federalism, the governor said Lagos must be given its fare share of resources available in its domain.
'Financial subordination makes an end of federalism. It follows therefore that both state and federal authorities in a federation must be given the power in the constitution each to have access to and to control its financial resources," he said.