Former governors of Ekiti and Osun States, Kayode Fayemi and Rauf Aregbesola respectively and others Tuesday identified poor national revenue generation, unemployment and poor implementation of campaign promises as factors inhibiting Nigeria’s development.
They spoke in Abuja at one-day dialogue and 12th anniversary of an online media platorm, Nigeria Politics Online (NPO) Reporters, with the theme: ‘2023 & Beyond: Tracking Campaign Promises for Good Governance’.
This is as the newspaper’s publisher, Semiu Okanlawon, urged Nigerians to contribute meaningfully to national development.
Aregbesola, who is the Minister of Interior, said Nigeria’s slow developmental pace over the years was due to the failure to adequately organise its local government structures.
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He asked: “Why is Nigeria still having challenges? Is it because we have no revenue? A country of 200 million people, less than five percent are working and earning and you think there’ll be progress?
Fayemi, while speaking on why most governors and other political leaders fail to fulfil their campaign promises, said they are confronted with extenuating circumstances they cannot explain.
“Even when they can explain it, time elapses and they’re not able to do it.”
A former governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed, urged Nigerians not to get blown-away by sugar-coated campaign promises, but investigate the quality, capacity, mental alertness and suitability of the campaigner.
He said for campaign promises to be easily implemented, it must conform to the contents of the national and state budgets.
