October 30, (THEWILL) – A couple of pro-democracy groups and human rights organizations have thrown their weights behind the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on his call for a special status for Lagos, agreeing that, granting the state a special status was long overdue.
Setting the ball of support rolling was the renowned activist and social analyst, Comrade Razaq Olokoba, who insisted that Lagos, as the former capital city of the country deserves special recognition after it has been stripped of the capital city status, with the movement of the capital to Abuja, asserting that, “even with the removal of the political headquarters to Abuja, Lagos still remains the economic capital of the country.”
Olokoba, who is the Convener of the Campaign for Dignity in Governance (CDG), in an interactive session with journalists in Lagos at weekend cautioned that, “it would be a disservice to abandon Lagos, as the country’s economic hub,” reminding that, “it accounts for about 80 per cent of the country’s earnings in form of the Value Added Tax (VAT).”
Speaking in the same vein was a pan; Lagos Youth Movement boss, Ogbeni Adewale Oladipupo, who supported Olokoba by saying that, “it is not out of place to grant special consideration to a state that performs such an economic feat by compensating and honouring it with a special status.”
According to Adewale, “honouring Lagos with a special status would safeguard the numerous Federal infrastructures in the state from decaying and also serve as morale booster for the residents to pay their taxes, dues and levies with enthusiasm.”
Comrade Ekudina Ibrahim of the Egbe Omoluabi Eko, (Egbe), said there have been precedencies around the globe that whenever a capital status is removed from any city, such a city is never abandoned but granted special status, disabusing the minds of cynics that the call was never for any selfish motives, but for the good of the generality of Nigerians from whatever part of the country they hail from.
The above remarks from the concerned and patriotic activists came at the heel of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s reiterated call for special status for Lagos during the presentation of the 2023 budget before the State House of Assembly last Thursday, where he stated that the state is a national asset to all the citizens of Nigeria, home and abroad.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
