Lagos 2023: Funke Akindele assures 35% affirmative action for women

The deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Ms Funke Akindele, promised on Friday that the party would ensure 35 per cent affirmative action for women if elected.

She also promised that the party would feed school pupils with one free meal daily.

She made the promises when she took the party’s campaigns to some markets in the Alimosho area of the state including Ipaja, Katan Kowa, and Ile-Epo Markets.

The party’s governorship candidates, Dr Abdul-Azeez Adediran and Akindele flagged off a three-day campaign on Wednesday for Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos state, touring various wards.

While Adediran continued to hold meetings with critical community stakeholders and groups in the area, Akindele had been touring various markets to seek support ahead of the general elections.

Akindele, who sought traders’ support for all PDP candidates, said she was passionate about children and women and had done a lot privately for them.

“Our children are very important and for them to grow up to become responsible youths and great leaders of tomorrow, they must get a proper education.

“We are not comfortable with the more than two million out-of-school children in Lagos State. This should not be so.

“We need to encourage parents to let their children go to school by making education free and compulsory, and by providing learning and teaching aids, free uniforms and at least one free meal daily for the children.

“We will do free and compulsory education for our children so that we can have better leaders tomorrow.

“We shall make sure that women are in all the economic sectors and provide different opportunities for them,’’ she said.

Akindele added that the PDP administration would ensure adequate training for teachers in the state.

She said the administration would also take care of market women and those in the informal sector by giving them soft loans, skills acquisition and empowerment tools.

“We shall teach them, nurture them and supervise whatever trade they are into to ensure that they do it right.

“We have a lot of things in stock for women and for children. I am very passionate about children. They really touch my soul so much, she stressed.

The deputy governorship candidate said that she had been helping and empowering women and children for a long time privately, saying, “this is the biggest chance for me to do it better.’’

Akindele received a rousing welcome in all the markets visited where she maintained that it was time for the people of the state to enjoy the real dividends of democracy.

The PDP candidate for Lagos West Senatorial District, Otunba Segun Adewale, also spoke at the markets.

He promised to facilitate a bill that would make it compulsory to have at least a vocational centre in each local government area.

Adewale noted that one of the biggest challenges of the nation was the youths and said: “most of them are into drugs and touting.’’

He stressed that it was not compulsory that everybody must have university education.

“Let us have vocational centres where people can go and learn a trade,’’ he admonished.

Vanguard