2023: Fashola urges Nigerians to hold debates to grill candidates
Fashola urged the electorate to be very careful in their choice of candidates to vote into office.
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Fashola said this while speaking at the 6th annual BRF Gabfest, an event organised in commemoration of his 59th birthday.
The minister also urged the electorate to be very careful in their choice of candidates to vote into office.
‘’I urge you to vote by holding debates and town halls where you put questions to the candidates to test their abilities. I urge you to vote by looking at what the candidates have done before, this is like asking for the referees during an interview or talking to a previous employer. This is how to recruit an employee. Not by anger.’’ he said.
Fashola further said local government is a critical tier of government because of its closeness to the grassroots.
‘’If you do, you are likely to agree with me about the importance of the local government, because you will find that it is the local government that is responsible for primary education and primary health.
‘’The Federal Government and by extension the Presidency to whom we often look for the solutions to our problems do not own one primary school or one primary healthcare facility.
‘’It is in these facilities that the foundations of literacy, early education, antenatal care, immunisation for the first five years of a child’s life are undertaken. This is where the odds of a child’s life, whether he or she will survive early childhood diseases and become skilled and productive in future, are determined.
‘’When you add to this, the responsibility of the local government for sanitation, which is the heart of public health, that determines whether your child will be exposed to diseases and fall sick or not, please ask yourself the question posed by the theme of this GABFEST: “What am I voting for?” if you vote at all during local government elections.’’
Fashola explained that out of the over 200,000 Km of roads in Nigeria, the Federal government owns 35,000 KM (17.5%); the state government owns 31,000 km (17.5%), while the local governments own 132,000km (65%).
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