Ahead of the 2023 Kwara Central Senate election , the Labour Party candidate, Mr Faruq Akanbi, has submitted that Mallam Bolaji Abdulahi deserves commendation and not reproach from the Kwara Central people for the education reform efforts and the revolutionization of education in the state during his commissionership.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned Akanbi said this while responding to a panelist’s question during the Leaders’ Debate organized for the Kwara Central senate candidates by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists , NUJ , Kwara state council in Ilorin on Monday.
Abdulahi, a one-time Sports minister, who had before then served as Commissioner for Education under Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, is currently the Kwara Central PDP Senate candidate.
The LP candidate, who was the Kwara state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers during the period Abdulahi served as Commissioner for Education, opined that ‘it would be wrong to crucify someone for doing his or her assignment diligently’.
He recalled how the reformative steps taken on Bolaji’s watch led to reforms in tertiary institutions in the state and the establishment of the Quality Assurance Bureau.
Akanbi, who lamented that it had become more expensive to travel by road in the country than traveling by air , said there had been absence of an effective legislature in the country since three years ago, submitting that only the eighth National Assembly had the courage to make the executive do the right thing .
‘If you travel by road and you are kidnapped what your family will pay as ransom would be more than what someone who had traveled by air will pay for flight ticket. The eight National Assembly was misunderstood, there is no effective legislature anymore’ he said
Also speaking , Malam Bolaji Abdulahi said the 2023 General Election has given Nigerians the opportunity to press the reset button, noting that the 10th National Assembly will be predominantly newcomers, there was therefore a need for every constituency to ensure that a strong voice represents them since there would definitely be a conversation about Nigeria.
The former minister asserted that apart from being an indigene of Ilorin, a town that has its people being famously called “enu dun juyo” (tongue is sweeter than salt) , he also has the education and the experience to get recognized , given due recognition and allowed to play a frontline role during such a conversation if elected as a senator.
The SDP candidate, Dr Ridwan Apaokagi , who also averred that he was uniquely qualified to run for senate, expressed the need to come up with a bill that will allow civil servants to contest elections without resigning from their positions , this, if done, would according to him allow those, who have the needed requirements to become great leaders, to seek elective office.
He also lamented the failure to seek an end to medical tourism in the country saying this stands as a sad commentary on the nation’s health system.
‘What do you expect in a country where the president and ministers cannot be treated here for even malaria. The roads are in a deplorable state but because government officials do not travel by road they don’t know what we are going through. Most patients die because they cannot afford N3,000 for medical treatment’ he said.
The three Kwara Central senate candidates; Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, Malam Umar Faruq Akanbi and Dr Ridwan Apaokagi, who attended the Leaders’ Debate, were unanimous in their submission that if Nigeria must regain its lost glory and be where it ought to be among the comity of nations, the education sector must be made to work.
They condemned the idea of forcing students at public universities to stay at home for close to nine months now because of the industrial action by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
They also decried the worsening security situation in Nigeria while noting that the situation in the country had pushed a lot of people into poverty.
They also informed the audience of their readiness to come up with sustainable programmes for youth empowerment.
The APC candidate, Mallam Salihu Mustapha was conspicuous by his absence at the event
Earlier, Mr AbdulHakeem Garba, who is the chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel, had in his welcome address said the essence of organizing the Leaders’ debate was to give the candidates the opportunity to meet with a large gathering of journalists to sell their manifestoes to electors in the senatorial district- Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980. Thank you
