The Lagos State governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Funso Doherty, has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) can be defeated in the 2027 governorship election, citing the party’s loss in Lagos during the 2023 presidential election.
Doherty made the remarks during an interview on ARISE News on Friday, where he discussed his plans for Lagos State, including affordable housing, education, healthcare, public transportation and accountability in government.
Responding to concerns that the APC was too strong to be defeated in the state, he said the outcome of the 2023 presidential election demonstrated that the ruling party could lose an election in Lagos.
“The first thing to say is that the APC was defeated in 2023. So if you go and look at the presidential election in 2023, APC lost,” he said.
He added: “Not theory, not rhetoric. If you go to INEC and you tell, ask INEC, give me the result on the presidential election in Lagos in 2023, you will see that APC lost. So it’s not, we’re not talking about something that is from outer space.”
Doherty acknowledged that the presidential election was different from the governorship election but expressed confidence that the circumstances that favoured the APC in the previous governorship contest would not necessarily be repeated in 2027.
“It is possible it has happened before. It wasn’t the governorship election for many reasons, which we don’t believe will exist in this time,” he said.
He also pointed to the conduct of the APC as an indication that the party might not be entirely confident about the next election.
“If you want the answer to that question, just look at the actions of the APC itself. They are not the actions of somebody who is comfortable,” he said.
34-Point Manifesto Focuses On Measurable Outcomes
Doherty said his manifesto was designed to address the everyday difficulties faced by Lagos residents, arguing that successive administrations had not translated government spending into sufficient improvements in people’s lives.
He identified six priority areas: health, education and opportunity; affordable housing; environment and basic services; public transportation; jobs and small businesses; and honesty and transparency in government.
He said the manifesto contained 34 specific commitments that his administration would seek to accomplish during its first term, adding that residents would be able to assess his performance against those promises.
“We have 34, actually, 34 specific commitments that we’ve outlined that we will accomplish in our first term of office. And we ask the people of Lagos to hold us to account on those 34 items,” he said.
He explained that the manifesto was intended to provide residents with a means of evaluating his administration based on tangible results rather than government activities and announcements.
“One of the things that we’ve done, which is a bit unusual, actually is in the way we’ve done this manifesto, these 34 points, we’ve laid it out as a checklist. So people can actually take this document, put it away, bring it out in 2030 as we are preparing for 2031 election, because we will be inaugurated on May 29, right? And when they’re coming back, they can actually take them and say, we did this, or we didn’t do this, we did this, and then determine whether to vote for us for a second term,” he said.
Doherty argued that the effectiveness of government should be measured by its impact on residents rather than the volume of activities recorded in official reports.
“So this new approach is really about putting people at the centre,” he said.
He also questioned the proportion of Lagos State’s resources allocated to health and education, saying the combined spending on the two sectors represented about 14 per cent of the state’s N4.4 trillion budget.
“The combined spend on health and education is about 14%, right? So it’s one thing to say all these things about where your priorities are, it’s another thing to look at actually the resources that you are deploying to them,” he said.
“We believe that that number should be at least twice that, or about twice that, and that is what we are providing for in our manifesto.”
According to him, increased investment in the sectors would help ensure that public spending produces measurable improvements in the lives of residents.
Pledges 150,000 Housing Units
On housing, Doherty pledged to deliver 150,000 housing units during his first term if elected, proposing the development of affordable accommodation in areas with relatively more available land.
He identified Ikorodu, Ibeju-Lekki, Badagry and Epe as priority housing development zones for low and middle-income earners.
He also proposed redesignating part of the free zone area for housing development, saying the initiative would provide additional land for the programme.
“We intend to deliver in our first term of office 150,000 housing units,” he said.
Doherty explained that the proposed units would include different types of accommodation, depending on the needs of residents.
“These affordable housing units are not necessarily homes. Some of them will be one-bedroom apartments. Some of them might be studio for people who are just getting started, right? So it’s a mix.” he said.
He estimated that delivering 30,000 units in the first year would require about N600 billion, although he acknowledged that the figures were still being worked out.
“In the first year, that 30,000, the cost of that is probably somewhere, we’re still working the numbers, but probably somewhere about 600 billion or so is what will be required, right?” he said.
He said the proposed funding would come from both the state government and private-sector investment, supported by appropriate government guarantees.
“And that is money which, you know, part of it is going to be funded by government, but part of it is also going to be funded by the private sector with the right guarantees by government and so on, right?” he said.
Doherty added that the housing programme could create assets that would support borrowing and generate income through rent or ownership arrangements.
Promises Free Education, School Meals
Doherty also proposed making public education genuinely free by covering costs that families often have to pay despite existing claims of free education.
He said his administration would expand technical and vocational education, establish about 40 technical and vocational schools across local governments and provide nutritious meals for public school pupils.
“We believe technical and vocational education should be expanded significantly. So we are proposing about 40 technical and vocational schools across the local governments,” he said.
“In addition, we are going to make education truly free, not nominally free, when I say truly free, inclusive of books, inclusive of exam fees.”
He said the proposed school feeding programme would provide one nutritious meal for every child in public school on school days. The plan would also include transport assistance for pupils who needed help getting to school.
“We’ll also provide one nutritious meal for every child in public school on all public school dates, that’s why school days are open,” he said.
Doherty said the measures were intended to prevent children from being denied education because their families could not afford the associated costs.
“And the whole idea is that no child in Lagos should not get an education as a result of a lack of means,” he said.
On the cost of school feeding, he estimated that the programme would require between N100 billion and N125 billion annually, based on the number of pupils and school days.
“So when you work it out, and of course, remember that you are buying not retail food, it’s a school feeding programme at scale. So you’ll get it, you’ll be able to reduce the cost of each meal. So at the end of the day, we believe it will cost us somewhere between 100, maybe 125 billion,” he said.
He argued that the proposed expenditure was manageable within the context of the state’s overall budget.
“Now remember that Lagos budget is 4.4 trillion. 10% of that budget is 440 billion, right? 28% of that budget, right, is getting to probably about 1.3 trillion. You see what I’m talking about?” he said.
He further argued that the school feeding programme would support public health because better nutrition could reduce illness among children.
“So when you think about school feeding programme, if you say you’re going to spend a hundred billion on a school feeding programme, you can almost think of that money as a split between health and education, right? Because kids who are nourished are less likely to fall ill,” he said.
Proposes Free Maternal And Child Healthcare
In healthcare, Doherty said his proposed administration would provide free maternal and child healthcare for children up to the age of 16, including medicines.
He argued that existing arrangements did not adequately remove the financial burden on patients because people could still be required to pay for tests and drugs after receiving medical attention.
“We have also rushed the programmes in healthcare, where we believe that maternal and child healthcare up to the age of 16 should again be truly free, inclusive of medicines, not nominally free, but truly free,” he said.
“So now you have a situation where people may go, they may get seen, but they have to buy tests, they have to get drugs and so on and so forth.”
Doherty said his proposal was part of a wider plan to increase government investment in essential public services and ensure that residents benefited directly from public expenditure.
Plans Integrated Public Transport System
Doherty also promised to modernise public transportation in Lagos through increased investment in buses and better integration of the state’s rail services.
He argued that the existing Red and Blue rail lines operated as separate systems and proposed connecting them to make movement across the state easier.
“In public transportation, we intend to modernise the system. We will invest significantly in more buses, in addition to having an integrated, thoughtful approach to the rail service,” he said.
“Presently now we have the red line, we have the blue line. They are operating as stranded systems.”
He said the proposed integration would be supported by a single-fare system that would allow commuters to use different forms of public transportation through one fare.
“We intend to connect them and then make the process of commuting by different means easy for people, because we will have a one fare system, which enables you with one fare to access the different forms of transportation,” he said.
Vows To Enforce Code Of Conduct For Public Officers
On governance, Doherty pledged to enforce the Code of Conduct for public officers and prosecute cases involving criminal activity.
He argued that many of the necessary rules already existed and that the priority should be their enforcement rather than the introduction of new laws.
“With respect to on-fair accountability in government, this is a big pillar for us. We will enforce vigorously the Code of Conduct for public officers,” he said.
“As you know, many of these things already exist in the Code of Conduct. We don’t need to pass new laws. But starting from the top, leading by example, we will enforce those things and ensure that we have the inspectorate mechanisms work and where there’s criminal activity, we’ll prosecute those things.”
Defends Choice Of Running Mate
Doherty also defended his choice of Tolani Animashaun as his running mate, saying she brought private-sector experience, political involvement and diversity to the NDC ticket.
He said she had worked in banking and education and had been involved in politics for more than a decade, including participation in the Peoples Democratic Party, the African Democratic Congress and the NDC.
“She’s someone who has had a successful private sector career, but she’s also had a history in politics. She’s been involved in politics for well over a decade in the PDP and then through the ADC and the NDC now. She had a career first in banking, then as a teacher for many years, and has been active politically,” he said.
Doherty maintained that her experience and qualifications made her suitable for the position.
“So she is somebody who first and foremost is highly qualified to occupy the position. So first and foremost, she’s highly qualified to fill that role,” he said.
He also said her presence would bring diversity to the ticket, which he believed could improve decision-making.
“Secondly, she brings a diversity to the ticket, which is very important because we believe that decisions that are taken with a diverse decision-making team generally tend to be of a higher quality,” he said.
He added that the diversity would benefit Lagos residents through the decisions taken by a proposed NDC administration.
“And we believe that, you know, that diversity on the ticket is important for the people of Lagos in terms of the benefit that they receive,” he said.
Doherty’s proposals place public-service delivery, affordable housing, education, healthcare and transport at the centre of his campaign as he seeks to challenge the APC’s hold on Lagos State in 2027.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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