Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has insisted that he will not take instructions from anybody or group in leading Lagos if elected the governor of the state.
He made the assertion on Sunday in response to a question about his emergence as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the poll scheduled to hold in March.
Speaking during the Platform’s governorship debate, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Jimi Agbaje had queried the ability of his APC rival to lead the state.
He said, “I believe the question is to look at Lagosians and say I am going to be in charge, that the bulk is going to stop on his table.”
But the APC candidate swiftly saying, “Mr Sanwo-Olu had had a unique opportunity of running the state budget; I am my own person.”
He further listed his achievements as a commissioner in Lagos, including the introduction of the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
Other projects Sanwo-Olu highlighted are the 767 – 112 control and command centre, security trust fund, as well as the first pension board in the country.
He, thereafter, told residents not to re-elect him if he wins the election and fails to deliver as promised.
Sanwo-Olu said, “I clearly know that what is on the ballot is a four-year tenure and I am not going to say that I am interested in an eight-year.
“If all of those promises that I have put here today I do not fulfill them for one reason or the other, I don’t think I will deserve to come back again.”
Earlier, Sanwo-Olu highlighted plans by his administration to improve the welfare of the residents, as well as education and health among other sectors.
He described the primary school as the bedrock of education, noting that he used to train more than 1,000 teachers yearly as a commissioner.
The APC candidate plans to address the capacity development of the various institutes training teachers and the curricula being used.
He said, “Let’s look at the capacity development for these teachers, then we will take it back to the infrastructure that we need to have at these primary schools.
“Are they teaching them civics, are they teaching them things around even religious studies?”
Sanwo-Olu said there was a need to promote creative learning and improve the curriculum to accommodate the reality of things pertaining to the 21st century.
He added that he would address the issue of budgetary allocation for the sector from about N8.7 (billion) to N12 (billion).
On health, he promised to improve the welfare of medical doctors and other workers in the sector in a bid to ensure they were well taken care of.
The APC candidate further vowed to develop the health sector in the state with the help of the private sector by ensuring residents get access to quality primary healthcare.
He said his administration would not ignore the ICT sector as plans have been made to build technology hubs in all local governments of the state.
“We are going to ensure that we create an environment where all innovative ideas will come into fruition very quickly,” Sanwo-Olu pledged.
“As we speak, I have deployed free Wi-Fi in 18 locations in Lagos, including all the higher institutions in Lagos and they are working. It proves to show that I’m not just saying it, I am doing it.”
The governorship candidate stressed that he was the right man to succeed Governor Akinwunmi Ambode years with 13 and 17 years of experience in the public and private sectors respectively.
Asked about how transparent his government would be, he said, “When I was in government, we do a quarterly budget review in which we become answerable, we become accountable and we see all of the numbers that come out from our budget estimate on a quarterly basis.”
“Beyond that in my government is to set up a citizen engagement portal where all issues of concern will be popped out and we can escalate it to the governor’s office and (they) will get responses that will come directly to them,” he added.