The Nation Newspaper

Tag: GAC

  • GAC member to Nigerians: set new goals

    GAC member to Nigerians: set new goals

    All Progressives Congress (APC) leader in Badagry, Lagos State, a member of Governance Advisory Council (GAC),  Dr Sunny Ajose, yesterday urged Nigerians to set goals, make plans ‘’and strive towards achieving our dreams.’’

    He gave the advice in a New Year message signed by his media aide, Mr Sunday Oke, in Badagry.

    ‘’As we are saying goodbye to challenges and struggles of the previous year, it is time to embrace the new year with open arms and positive mindset.

    “In this new year, it is important to have a positive outlook and believe it will be a year of great prospects and breakthroughs.”

    Ajose enjoined Nigerians to be patient with President Bola Tinubu and support his reform agenda, ‘Renewed Hope’.

    “This year, the Federal Government is focused on implementing tax reforms to act as a catalyst for development of the country.

    Read Also: Gbajabiamila celebrates 2025 Surulere Baby of the Year

    “As responsible citizens, it is our duty to support these reforms and contribute towards growth of our nation,” he said.

    The GAC member lauded efforts of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in making the state a better place for residents.

    He said under Sanwo-Olu, Lagos had seen progress and development.

    Ajose advised Lagosians to support his initiatives and prayed for his success in placing Lagos among the best cities in the world.

    He extended his well wishes to the people of Badagry.

  • GAC members meet Lagos speaker over proposed Lagos electricity law

    GAC members meet Lagos speaker over proposed Lagos electricity law

    A delegation of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) on Thursday, Jully 4, held a meeting with the speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa at the Assembly Complex.

    The meeting which was held behind closed doors afforded a fruitful discussion concerning the proposed Lagos Electrification Agency Law which recently scaled second reading during plenary.

    In a statement issued on Friday, July 5, by Eromosele Ebhomele, the chief press secretary to the speaker, the GAC delegation at the meeting included Cardinal James Odumbaku, Sen. Anthony Adefuye, Otunba Henry Ajomale, Dr. Yomi Finnih, and Otunba Femi Pedro.

    Obasa had on Tuesday, June 25, committed the bill to the Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources with a two-week mandate for the latter to report back to the House.

    Read Also: Renewed Hope: Umahi holds talks on 130kms Tinubu legacy projects in Cross River

    This was after lawmakers at the day’s sitting debated the pros and cons of the bill which targets to repeal the Lagos Electric Power Reform Law, 2018 to provide for the creation and administration of the Lagos Electricity Market.

    The bill further seeks to establish a commercial and technical regulatory framework for the electricity market to ensure reliable and universal access to electricity for all residents of the State.

    Also, the bill seeks to establish the Lagos State Electrification Fund for the delivery of reliable electricity supply to the underserved areas of the State.

    Speaking about the bill, the chairman of the Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Hon. Sobur Oluwa, had said it was “very essential as it gives room for Lagos State to regulate its power supply and transmit electricity at its own pace.”

  • Lanre Razaq commends INEC

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and member of the Governor’s Advisory Council, GAC, Chief Lanre Razaq, yesterday commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for having the courage to postpone the presidential and national assembly elections from upper week to yesterday.

    Razaq was answering questions from newsmen yesterday after casting his vote at Ward A5, Polling Unit 024 at Epe.

    He thanked God for the turnout and the peaceful election. “The turnout was good and at the end of the day, we want to be sure that there is good election.

    “One thing is key in this election. We’ve been around in the last 16 years when the other party ruled. We knew what happened and we knew how they ruled us. Now we have the opportunity to compare what happened in the last four years.

    “Nigeria is better placed on a sound footing of democracy, I want Nigerians to consider that, in voting, if you don’t participate, you don’t have the right to complain. The electorate should go out to vote, search their conscience, and vote the best of the number of presidential candidate we have on the ground. And we know too well that the best of the best is President Muhammad Buhari.

    “Nigeria will be an example of good governance in the nearest future if this man continues for another one term. I have to thank God for one thing, that INEC had the courage to decide the postponement of the election last week instead of going ahead and getting it wrong. We appreciate them for that.”

  • ‘Stop destroying Sanwo-Olu’s posters’

    A chieftain and member of the Governor’s Advisory Council, GAC, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Lagos, Chief Lanre Razaq has appealed to aggrieved party members and his people at  Epe to stop destroying and defacing the campaign posters of the party’s governorship candidate in the forthcoming election, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

    Razaq, popularly called ‘KLM’ made the appeal at a meeting of all stakeholders in Epe which took place at the Jubilee Chalets in Epe on Wednesday. Razaq was the convener of the meeting.

    Razaq, who is an indigene of Epe urged his people to respect the decision of the party by throwing their weight behind Sanwo-Olu and all other candidates of the party and vote massively for all of them at the coming elections.

    He advised them to stop being angry because their son was denied a second term by the party, adding that the party has the final say in the issue and his people must respect the position of the party by supporting Sanwo-Olu.

    “The party has chosen the person it wants to fly the governorship flag in the election as Ambode’s tenure expires by May this year, the party says he cannot have a second term and has chosen Sanwo-Olu.

    “There is nothing we can do about it because the party has the final say, even if we are angry and we fight there is nothing we can do, the anger is much because our son was dropped, yes we are all angry but there is nothing we can do about it, the party has decided and all we can do is to support the party position”.

    Read Also: Sanwo-Olu, Agbaje throw jabs at Lagos forum

    He pointed out that all the on-going projects in Epe can only be completed if they vote in the candidate of the party in the election because there is no way Ambode can complete the projects before the expiration of his tenure in May.

    Razaq told his people that Lagos has a total registered voting population of 6,566,142 out of which Epe has 147,035 registered voters and that should they fail to vote for Sanwo-Olu and other divisions vote for him and he wins Epe will be the loser.

    “Let us not suffer ourselves, we have alot of work to do, if we don’t support the party all the uncompleted projects in Epe will stop and we shall suffer it, there is nothing anybody can do at this point, let us rethink about our anger and act more reasonably and support the party.

    “If we remain angry and say no, others will take advantage of it and we shall be the losers, the party expects 92,000 votes from Epe, let us give them 120,000 votes instead”, he said.

    Razaq begged them to calm down, support and vote the party saying, “so that whatever we want we can get them; from today let us stop destroying Sanwo-Olu’s posters, Epe will surely be better for all of us”, Razaq prayed.

    Apex Leader of APC in Epe and member of GAC, Alhaji Akanni Seriki also appealed to his people to support the party position , saying “Let us vote for all APC candidates including Sanwo-Olu, he is our man; drop your anger, Ambode did not send anybody to be involved in any anti-party activity,” Seriki said.

    Also addressing his people, the representative of Epe constituency 1 at the Lagos State House of Assembly who has been given a return ticket for a third term, Hon. Abiodun Tobun urged his people to thank God because out of nowhere God brought him and made him governor, “if it is the will of God that this is how far he should go for now there is nothing we can do.

    “We can all say Ambode did well, he did not put us to shame but we must remember that God’s will must be done; God made it possible and he did well, if God now says he wants him to stop there for now there is nothing we can do.

    “Tell everybody that this is our party, let us repair our own house, God will not let us spoil our house by ourselves. Let us remember that we must go along with the party, we cannot do our own, remember Fayemi’s story, today he is back as governor in Ekiti state. So we cannot say what God did with this, whether God is keeping him for a higher service we don’t know,” Tobun said.

    He appealed to Epe people to vote for all APC candidates in the election from President Muhammadu Buhari to Sanwo-Olu to house of Assembly members.

    Other party leaders, elders and leaders of various groups and communities in Epe took turns to appeal to the people to tow the party position and support all its candidates and vote for the party’s candidates and also eschew violence.

     

  • Osinbajo hails GAC at Abuja Auto Fair

    The Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has hailed GAC Motors for the quality of its brands.

    Osinbajo, who was represented by the Director-General of National Automobile Design and Development Council (NADDC)  Mr. Jelani Aliyu spoke at the 19th Abuja Auto Fair.

    The fair, which started on October 21, is holding at the Old Parade Ground, Area 10, Abuja.

    Read also: Nigeria launches Green Teacher programme

    Major automobile brands are participating in the fair.  The GAC brands on display include GA3S, GS4, and GS8, which was unveiled in Abuja for the first time.

    Osibanjo unveiled the GS8 in presence of the Chairman, Choice International Nigeria, Chief Diana Chen CIG.

    Also present was Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who rated the GAC brands high.

    He said he was looking forward to the time GAC would start assemblying its products in Nigeria.

    The fair will end on Saturday.

  • Local Govt chairmen need better service delivery method, says Mamora

    Local Govt chairmen need better service delivery method, says Mamora

    Local Government Chairmen should be transparent and accountable to those who elected them into office, former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Olorunnibbe Mamora, has advised.

    Mamora spoke at a workshop for officials of Local Governments organised by the Lagos State Government, Gubernatorial Advisory Committee in Lagos, yesterday. He was the chairman.

    He urged the local government operators to equip themselves for better service delivery to achieve their set goals.

    Mamora said being a local government Chairman is an honour and a call to service.

    He said: “But you should strive to leave behind a true legacy of service that will outlive your tenure.”

    The Chairman, Gubernatorial Advisory Committee (GAC), Prof. Adebayo Williams, stressed the importance of Local Government. He said Local Government may be the third tier of governance but it is the first realm of the people.

    Williams said: “local government is the first line of assault whenever there is a breakdown of the sacred covenant between the governed and the governing, it is the first port of call for an enraged citizenry.

    “In certain societies, city councillors are often deemed to be more important than parliamentarians. The election of the Mayor of London often generates more excitement and political tension than the national elections, To the average New Yorker, the mayor is more important than the state governor or even the president. But for Rudy Gulliano’s energetic and hands-on approach things could have turned out much worse in New York on September 11, 2001.

    On the objective of the two-day seminar, Williams said: “Let me quickly state that this is not a fault-finding workshop. It is a fact-finding mission meant to rub minds among those who have been in the field with a view to probing the problems from source and finding the way forward.”

    “The workshop itself is coming up against the backdrop of the proposed National Conference. The conference itself presupposes that something is structurally amiss with the country. The structure of local government is in Nigeria is a crucial link in the chain of structural disorder that has hobbled Nigeria and stalled its march to authentic nationhood”, Williams stated.

    Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Ademorin Kuye advised local government chairmen to always carry out budget appraisal so that they can measure their budget performance.

    Kuye praised the local governments in the state for their empowerment programme for women and youth which he said is being copied by other local governments in the country.

    A guest lecturer Professor Oyelowo Oyewo of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, spoke on “Public Perception of Local Governments in Lagos State”.

    He noted that local government that is closer to the people are not making much impact in the life of the people. This he attributed to the encroachment of their functions by the state government.

    Oyewo said if the state governments are challenging the Federal Government over usurped powers, then the Local Government should be allowed to perform their functions as clearly stated in the 1999 constitution.

    He said the local governments in the state surrendered their powers when they signed a memorandum of understanding that empowered the state government to collect Land Use Charge in place of Tenement Rate that was the exclusive responsibility of local government.

    Oyewo called for creation of more local governments or local council development areas because, according to him, Lagos is a mega environment that the existing 57 Local councils and LCDAs are grossly inadequate.

    In his presentation Dr Yemi Fagboun advised the local government to always make their budget accessible to the public so that people can assess their performance.

    The Nation Editorial Page Editor, Sanya Oni, urged the local government to pay premium on cleanliness of the environment. He noted that the local councils have greater responsibilities to perform in order to meet the expectation of the people.

    The two-day workshop ends today.

    Dignitaries at yesterday’s programme include a former member of the House of Representatives Wale Osun, a former Commisoner in Lagos, Mrs. Kemi Nelson and local government chairmen.