How I hope to transform Lagos —Doherty

Adedeji Doherty, an engineer, is the acting national Vice Chairman (South-West) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and  a gubernatorial aspirant in Lagos State. In this interview with some journalists, he opens up on various national issues, including his 2015 governorship aspiration. ANGELA JOHN brings these excerpts:

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Given the various developments in the PDP, would you say your party has anything in stock for the people of Lagos State come 2015 if it wins the election?
A lot has happened in the past 14 years in Lagos State, starting from (Bola) Tinubu’s era down to Babatunde Fashola’s. The former was more or less a political era rather than being an administrative one. The latter, from what I have seen so far, has just been a slight change for Lagos, but not good enough. The change that will occur in Lagos with a PDP governor will be more explicit, more visible and will be one that will touch the lives of an average Lagos resident. The reason I am saying this is that there has been a yardstick that has already been put in place by the past governments.
Lagos was once the capital of Nigeria. But today, we have seen slight changes. But with the kind of internally revenue generated, the kind of money from the Federal Allocations that has been coming to Lagos State vis-a-vis the development that they can show in Lagos State, there is a serious negative disparity.
It is the credibility of the person that is driving the vision, mission and the manifesto of the party that matters. In Fashola’s case, we have seen he is a very good material but in a wrong party. In Lagos, come 2015, where we are going to start from is the right candidate. There will be development in terms of youth employment, housing, transport on rail, road and water, health and education. There will be drastic changes within the second and third year of the incoming PDP government.
You mentioned Lagos status as a former capital city. How does this come into the picture of the development of the state?
A state that was once a federal capital territory should attract the interest of the centre. At the same time, you have a population that is moving geometrically. You have a situation now whereby the federal allocation vis a vis infrastructural changes that should occur in the state are not there. At the end of the day, you see the state going a borrowing and increasing  pressure on the people through excessive taxation. There is no way we can have respite in Lagos State, for companies, institutions, medium-and small-scale enterprises, and individual business concerns without the good governance of PDP in the state.
But those who are in opposition against the PDP do not see anything good in PDP due to the crisis that engulfed it recently. What is your take on this?
I will tell you we should divide and differentiate it. There is party angle to the  issue as well as the administrative. There is also the political angle. I will tell you that the PDP is the reality of Nigeria today. If the All Progressives Congress (APC) had been at the centre it would have been worse than this. The reason is this: we are a country of 245 ethnic groups, we have different motives, interests, ideologies and we come from different background. What has brought us together is the unity that was formed over 100 years ago.
The interests in the PDP are so diverse. In the party, you cannot point to somebody as the owner of the party. If you look at President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration as of today, you will see that the it has been micro-economically focused and micro economy is the bedrock of Economic development. You may not get the result immediately, but in the future you will know that what you have done is the best for the populace.
In Nigeria today, the rate of unemployment has gone down; GDP has gone up; foreign investment has increased and the prospect for power generation is brighter than what it was two years ago. The railway system is better than how it was four years ago. However, we are not where we ought to be.
I can tell you why. The orientation of those of us, who are politicians, has to change as the evolution of democracy is changing in Nigeria. As a party, we have been able to keep Nigerians together. This, in itself, is a big task in Nigeria.  Within the past years; we have made some mistakes, we have been able to correct our mistakes. At the end of the day, the political class is growing; the electorate is also growing and they know what is due to them.
If you found yourself in the shoes of Governor Fashola, what are those things you will do differently in the interest of the people?
The PDP has its manifesto, which guides those in governments formed by the party.The AP government in Lagos has been focusing on the urban aspect of the state.They have been focusing on what people can see and not things that will make impact. With my developmental agenda, I will change the face of Lagos if elected.If I go throughexpress roads, I might see traffic lights but how will those lights impact on my pockets? They only create ambience, partly security and beautification. What we are supposed to focus on is long- term plan.
We should move into the decongestion project for Lagos State. That means, we should move from Eti-Osa down to Epe with heavy developments, low cost housing in order to relocate people from urban Lagos into the rural Lagos. If people have to move into rural Lagos, there should be something that has to take them there. My housing policy will take them there; transport policy will take them there.