The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Professor Jerry Gana, has called for decentralisation of the management of the nation’s infrastructure.
He said this during an interview on Roadmap 2019, a special political programme which airs Mondays on Channels Television.
Professor Gana stressed that Nigeria’s infrastructure needs cannot be solved unless the processes involved were decentralised by the Federal Government.
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“Infrastructure is one of the most critical things Nigerians have been crying about, particularly power supply,” he said.
The SDP candidate queried, “The infrastructure ministries of Works, of Power, of Housing; every infrastructure into just one ministry with one minister?”
“That is one of the things we want to do. When it comes to infrastructure, our own plan is to decentralise the administration of the provision of roads, railways, power, and so on. Why centralise it?
Professor Gana further faulted the decision of the Muhammadu Buhari administration to merge the main infrastructure ministries under one roof.
He also condemned the budget cycle of the present administration which he said does not allow enough time for implementation.
The SDP candidate, however, said, “For us, the capital budget will be like a capital development plan for four years.”
“We will have a four-year plan that will be approved as a budget right from the start. So, you will spend four years implementing.”
The interview was conducted before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) published the final list of candidates which excluded Professor Gana’s name.
Although the electoral body explained that the list was published in line with a court judgement, it said it was expecting the SDP leadership to submit Gana’s name for inclusion.
