The All Progressives Congress (APC),Presidential Council for Canada, has urged Nigerians to keep themselves abreast of political undercurrents and vote wisely come February 2023 for the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The Media Director, APC, Presidential Council for Canada, Dr Abiola Oshodi, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Akure.
Oshodi said that Nigeria needed a competent and visionary person as a president to take it to a new level come 2023.
“Whosoever wins the presidential election in 2023 will be confronted with monumental challenges and opportunities within and outside the country that will test the mettle of such a president.
“Nigeria is at a delicate stage of its developmental process and needs a president with a hand on experience and Tinubu who has governed Lagos, the most commercial of Nigeria 36 states deserves to be given an opportunity to pilot Nigeria affairs from May 29, 2023,” he said.
According to Oshodi, Tinubu adroitly managed Lagos – the smallest state in the country but with the highest urban population accounting according to a Lagos official document for the 26.7 per cent of Nigeria’s total GDP and more than 50 per cent of non-oil GDP.
He said that Lagos controlled 80 per cent of the foreign trade flow and with an estimated population of 24 million -larger than many other economies in the neighbouring West African countries.
Oshodi, a Canada-based Psychiatrist and the Convener of the Oshodi for Tinubu /Shettima Media Group, pointed out that Tinubu laid the foundation for the current Lagos that accounted for the chunk of capital importation into Nigeria.
“According to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, for Q4 2021, Lagos State alone was the top destination of 90.66 per cent of the total capital investment.
“Also in Q2 2022 of all the capital importation to Nigeria, Lagos alone accounted for 66.66 percent, and was followed by Abuja, the Federal Capital with 29.57, leaving the rest 35 states to share a paltry 3.77 per cent,” he said.
Oshodi described Tinubu as a man with innovative thinking who touched every facet of Lagos as a governor from 1999 to 20 07-an attribute needed by Nigeria at this stage of its development for the desired transformation.
“He created the Ministry of Environment to tackle the issue of flooding head on, introduced the one-day governor programme that brought young boys and girls into the limelight and reformed the health sector accompanied with the distribution of free eye glasses.
“He created a Housing Ministry to redress the acute shortage of housing in Lagos, with a mandate to construct affordable houses and introduced the Independent Power Project, and the Bus Rapid Transportation – BRT, with Lagos State Transport Management Authority.
“Tinubu brought in LASTMA to develop a culture of regulation, control management of traffic operations and to ensure hitch free traffic on Lagos roads.
“Tinubu also created 37 more local councils in order to bring government more to the people and brought the Lekki corridor into limelight.
“The Lekki corridor had become a beehive of economic activities with the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals, the 650,000 barrels per day integrated refinery, the largest single train refinery in the world; the Dangote Fertiliser, a 2.5 billion dollar investment and the Lekki Sea Port Nigeria’s largest multipurpose Port in Nigeria among the and among others,” he said.
Oshodi said that if Senator Tinubu was voted as the next president, he would replicate all the achievements and even accomplish more at the national level to give the country the leadership that would inspire it to greater glory with new thinking, innovative ideas and vision.
“Tinubu has said he would turn Nigeria into a country that future generations would be proud of and has expressed his preparedness to tackle the challenges facing Nigeria.
“Tinubu has spoken of his determination, the perseverance and the foresight to identify the problems of Nigeria and take them headlong and make a solution out of them for the prosperity of Nigeria,” he stated.
