…promises 500,000 jobs, free healthcare for mothers

The Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) on Thursday unveiled Tolani Animashaun as its running mate for the Lagos governorship election, promising free healthcare for mothers, free education, 500,000 jobs and a review of major public-private partnerships if elected.

The event took place at the Amber residence in Ikeja, with the party’s Lagos chairman, Hon. King Okunnege, in attendance alongside Animashaun and the party’s governorship candidate, Funso Doherty, and other stakeholders of the party.

Animashaun, an Ikorodu-born Lagosian, has more than three decades of experience in banking, education, international development and politics. She has worked at Eko International Bank, where she managed public sector and corporate accounts, and served on the board of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission. She later taught at schools in Lagos and founded Trust Educational Consults, which creates opportunities for young Nigerians to study the French language and culture in France and Switzerland.

She holds a BSc in European Studies with French and Economics from the University of Buckingham and a postgraduate qualification in Strategic and Defence Studies with International Relations from the École des Hautes Études Internationales in Paris. She also completed UN graduate studies, taking part in 1991 in the United Nations Graduate Study Programme in Geneva. Her commitment to political organisation and mobilisation spans more than a decade, and she is a patron of the Golden Eagles Association and a member of the Civic Empowerment Group.

“Her work has always reflected a belief in the power of education to expand opportunity and transform lives,” Doherty said.

Speaking on why he picked a woman as his running mate, Doherty said, “Diversity is important because it helps people to feel included.” He added that women had always been represented on the executive teams and boards he led in the private sector.

Addressing the gathering, Animashaun thanked the party’s leaders and members, her family and friends, and her fellow citizens. “I stand before you with great gratitude,” she said, adding that she accepted the call to serve.

Speaking on her years in politics, she said she had spent a long time mobilising and campaigning. “I have seen what good people can achieve when they work together,” she said. “And I have seen the loss when politics forgets the people it’s meant to serve.”

She said that when Doherty asked her to join him, she saw in him a belief that was centred not on those who work for him but on those who are served by him. According to her, Doherty keeps telling her, “Just think of what we can achieve together.”

Animashaun described Lagos as a city of promise. “Lagos is a place where dreams come true, where opportunities arise, and where people can find fulfilment,” she said. She added that it is a place “where people come to build the future” from within Nigeria and beyond its borders.

“This is a place for everybody who gets up before going to work, to train, to study, and to dream,” she said. “It belongs to the indigenous and the newcomers alike.”

Stating her hope for the state, she said: “My hope is for Lagos, when that dream is within reach for all, when fulfilment and contentment are the measures of our collective well-being.”

Presenting the party’s manifesto, *Ona Tuntun*, which means “New Road, New Way”, Doherty said a manifesto should not begin with what the politician wants but with what the people need. “Every manifesto should begin with what the people need,” he said. The document contains 34 specific commitments on health, education, housing, the environment, jobs, small business and honest government. It is written as a checklist, starting with how the party wants to change people’s lives.

On health, the party promised “truly free healthcare” for mothers and teenagers up to age 16, including free consumables and medicines. In education, it promised free public education for parents and children, covering exam fees. Every child in a public school would get one free nutritious meal a day, and children who need it would get free public transport to school. “No child should be left out from enjoying quality education,” Doherty said. He added that the party would give attention to schools for persons with disabilities.

On where the money would come from, Doherty said health and education together took 14 per cent of the last budget, and that the party would double it. He noted that the population is young, with Gen Z making up about 25 per cent, millennials another 25 per cent and Gen Alpha about 30 per cent.

“By the time you add all three, you have hit about 80 per cent,” he said, adding that young people should not be seen only as the leaders of tomorrow, but as leaders today.
The party would also fund the plan by cutting contracts and waste of dubious value.

Doherty said the party would create 500,000 jobs, and that one of the ways would be to set up about 30 technical and vocational schools. According to him, pupils would be able to learn technical and vocational skills and become skilled immediately after school. “It is skills that create jobs,” he said. He explained that when one person says there is no job and another says there are plenty, the second person is the one with the skills people are looking for.

He said the party would protect market women and small businesses from unauthorised levies and set up a whistle-blowing channel for extortion cases. He also promised to modernise the state’s transport system, noting that many Nigerian politicians travel with multiple protocols at home but ride buses, Uber and trains once they get to London. According to him, the current task force would keep running the system. Workers in the existing system would be trained and moved over to operate the modern transport network, so that nobody loses their livelihood.

On accountability, he said many of the rules needed already exist.
“Laws, rules and regulations against all those things exist already in the code of conduct,” he said, adding that “as a serving public officer, you can’t allow the contract to a company that you have no interest in.” According to him, the problem is that the rules are not applied.

He promised that his administration would review every major public-private partnership, put the findings in the public domain and set up an independent body to publish its report. Doherty also said official vehicles would come under state control, with only those entitled to them given cars, and that this would apply “from the top”, including the governor and deputy governor. He promised to report progress regularly.

Doherty said the business of government is governance that enables the private sector to innovate and create, and that the governor should have no “higher-ups”, starting with being elected on the mandate of the people.

“Government is not a money-making enterprise,” he said. “It is social work that requires a lot of commitment.” Skills and experience matter, he added, since government is “a mega teamwork” rather than personal work.

He urged voters to compare candidates of different parties on leadership, experience and character.

He also asked what would realistically happen if the party faced a power push from higher powers benefiting from the agberos, in relation to manifesto 30, 31, 33 and 34.

Responding, Doherty said the first step in solving the agbero problem is ensuring the governor is elected by the people’s mandate, which would allow him to take full control of governance. He described the agbero problem as part of a bigger problem rooted in a pyramid from which many big people in government benefit. According to him, the solution is to provide employment and skills for a great number of the agberos and then put them to good use in a digitised transport system.

With the unveiling of Animashaun and the presentation of Ona Tuntun, the NDC assures Lagosians of its commitment to the daily needs of ordinary Lagosians, from healthcare and education to jobs and market safety when elected in the 2027 elections.