The Labour Party (LP) candidate for the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Olumide Oworu, has said that if elected he would push the agenda for qualitative education in Lagos State.
Oworu, who is contesting the same seat as fellow actor, Desmond Elliot, who is the incumbent, says that a good education is key to the shaping of one’s life.
“I believe that the type of education that you get and what you are exposed to as a young person really go a long way to shaping your outlook to life,” the 29-year-old candidate said.
“Whatever we can do to help the standard and the quality of education that our educational jurisdictions are exposed to and exposing the people and students to the best quality that we can get, is one of the things that I want to work towards,” Oworu stressed.
Oworu in an interview with LM on Sunday, said his motivation for vying for the position stems from his passion for young people.
“Before now, I’ve always been somebody who’s been very passionate about young people; about youths (really) just making impact in different fields,” the LP candidate said.
“It is very important that as young people, we take part in the formation of the policies being put in place because these policies are going to affect us directly as we are now becoming the adults in the Nigerian space,” he continued.
Gingering Lagos youths, the thespian-now-turned-politician said, “We need to be active and be sure that we are making decisions where the outcome would bring about the best results for us and our children coming after us as well.”
On his legislative agenda, Oworu said that apart from his emphasis on quality education he would be pushing for the economic empowerment of young people as well as improved healthcare delivery.
He said, “We will push for the building of human capital, making sure there are avenues for people to get off the streets and earn a living; down to ease of getting loans at very low interest rates.”
“We are looking at the health sector, where there are people in the hospitals now that are detained there because they can’t pay ₦2000 to get discharged; people that can’t afford ₦500 to buy syringe and things like that,” he said.
Oworu summed up, “Whatever we can do to help the greater good and really just help the average person attain a comfortable standard of living and make sure all the basics are functional, are the things that we need to be working towards.”
Addressing the lawlessness presented by cult gangs and thugs, popularly known as agberos in Lagos, Oworu expressed his worry: “It’s not going to be easy, because a lot of this culture has been embedded in certain people’s DNA and has become their reality.”
But he was quick to proffer a solution to the issue: “That’s why I have stressed working on the mental infrastructure.”
“I believe that is not going to happen overnight, “he continued, “but the same way people have been conditioned to think it’s okay to have this type of system is the same way we can condition people to know that it’s not okay.”
“Then, it also comes down to the system of government system that we are running and how accountable that system is, and the type of sanctions that are going to be in place because at the end of the day, people will find it harder to be out of line if they know that there are going to be strict sanctions for anybody that breaks the law,” he stressed.
Oworu took a swipe at the present APC government in Lagos State for sustaining these cult groups: “But you could say that the present system of government relies on the existence of agberos, to be in power and to keep people’s voices suppressed.”
The LP state candidate’s solution to lasting law and order in Lagos State is the installation of a Labour Party government.
“Once we have the right people in government, people who are more about the people in a more loving environment, more caring environment, an environment that’s more transparent, where we can see where the money is going in and out, people are hired based on what they are bringing to the table and are judged based on outputs and we have things in place to measure growth and progress, I think over time, the culture of needing physical force to stay in power will be eroded.”
Speaking further on the rehabilitation of members of these cults, Oworu said, “At the same time, if this way of living is certain people’s means of livelihood; if you are taking those means away, then there has to be a plan B.”
He offered, “You can’t just stop somebody’s livelihood and expect them to not react in a way that is by an any-means-necessary tactic. So, we need to also make provisions for that and if we’re trying to rehabilitate these individuals, what is the plan? Are we doing vocational trainings? Some of them even have some level of academic qualification, so are we going to try and rehabilitate them back into getting regular jobs. Are we sending certain people to school? There must be something that we’re doing. The ones that are good at sports, are we trying to get them into that?”
He continued, “For example, the media industry is one of the highest employers of labour. Are we going to set up film corporations where they can shoot their own content, produce their own films, earn their own money, and be functional members of society and, be a part of something that they can be proud of as well. Because I honestly don’t think a good number of them are there really because they want to. I feel it’s because they have to and they feel they are indebted to their heads or their leaders. So, it’s more about getting the right people into the system, once we have the right people in the system, and the system is transparent and is people centred, I genuinely believe that over time a lot of these things will be phased out.”
On why he is running against his fellow actor, Desmond Elliot, the actor popular for his role as Tare in The Johnsons said, “Different perspective. I feel like we have been recycling the same leaders and they have the same ideologies and that’s why you can see we’ve been going around in circles, so we need to start having ideas more in line with the times, a more modern approach to problem solving and that’s what I know I represent as a young person.”
On what he would do differently, he said:
“The first thing is really just changing the perception of what it means to be a politician or to hold public office. I think we need to change the way politicians view themselves and how people view politicians, at the end of the day, it’s really just an office. It’s just a job like any other job. it just comes with certain responsibilities. But it really should be more people focused and more people centred, because you have a small number of people coming together to decide on things that affect a greater majority of people. So, it’s only right and it’s only fair that you have people who are transparent, people who are accountable, and people who really have the wellbeing of the average person in mind, and I believe I possess those qualities and that is my outlook to life generally.”
