SPN Lagos Leaflet: ROGUE RULING CLASS AND THEIR CAPITALIST POLICIES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR NIGERIA’S PROBLEM

WORKERS AND THE POOR MUST UNITE TO SAVE NIGERIA!

Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) is a new party formed by socialist and change seeking people aimed at rescuing Nigeria from socio-economic crisis. SPN is democratically run and does not accommodate impositions and anti-poor policies. 

           

In Lagos, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the ruling party is attacking different sections of the working people in the state such as PDP and other pro-establishment political parties do in the states they control.  

           

Lagos state is the only state in Nigeria where it is illegal to be a beggar or give arms to beggars. Many beggars are daily forcefully arrested, detained and deported to other states and countries. It shows the height of insensitivity and wickedness on the part of Fashola-led government who is pretending that Lagos is working despite the growing poverty, misery and hopelessness. Every sector in Lagos and Nigeria is comatose. The health sector is dying, electricity is much more epileptic despite PDP promises.

EDUCATION

Public primary and secondary schools are not only over-crowded but also lack functional and adequate facilities for quality education like laboratories and libraries. A few standard private schools are unaffordable for most parents. Tertiary education in the state has been taken out of the reach of children of the poor. For instance, fees hike (N193,750 - N348,750) in LASU drastically reduced the number of students that gained admission in the 2011/2012 academic session from 4,903 to 1,951.

           

The implication of huge fall in student enrolment as a consequence of the failure of commercialisation in LASU  is the planned “rationalization” that will entail scrapping and merger of some departments and mass sack of workers, a policy aimed at cutting cost. Governor Fashola like other ruling class members do not have their children in LASU or any other public schools but in very expensive schools abroad. LASU is dying! The SPN will scrap these inhuman fees in LASU and in other tertiary institutions and we shall introduce free and quality education at all levels in Lagos by investing massively in education.

TRANSPORTATION

Lagos State Government has shown obvious lack of capacity to provide Lagosians with functional transportation system. Many roads are in terrible shape such that they are impassable and inaccessible. It explains why most Lagosians spend several hours in traffic for journey of few minutes. This is one of the reasons Okada has become a major means of transportation. Fashola's response is to ban Okada in 475 roads. However, the same Fashola and ACN gave okada riders helmets and used them to campaign during the 2011 general election.

           

The state of the roads, drainage and the unplanned communities are responsible for flooding in many places whenever it rains. The SPN is opposed to the ban and attacks on Okada riders by the police and now the ban on tricycles operators (Keke NAPEP) and demand an end to these attacks. These ban and attacks has thrown hundreds of thousands of people into joblessness. SPN is interested in phasing out Okada as a means of public transportation and that can only be achieved by modernizing the means of transportation, which includes reconstructing and maintaining all roads with adequate drainage, put in place a metro-line that connects different parts of Lagos, investing in safe water transportation and putting in place a public mass transit.

           

The transportation regulatory agencies set up in Lagos are operated as revenue generating agency for the government and not as corrective agency. This  explains why some penalties are as high as N50,000 and more. Many abandon their vehicles to government when they cannot afford the very high penalties and accumulated demurrage. SPN will reduce the penalties to affordable rates and scrap some obnoxious ones while concentrate on corrective measures. When adequate transportation infrastructure is put in place and road users move freely and faster, there will be no chaos and things will be orderly.

  

HOUSING

Lagos ACN since 1999 has only built houses for the rich while the poor have been abandoned. Despite that, the Tinubu and Fashola-led governments have continued to demolish houses and markets without alternative or adequate compensation. The most recent is the inhuman demolition of Makoko, Ijora Badia and some houses in Ikorodu rendered millions of Lagosians homeless. SPN is opposed to these demolitions without building alternative houses or without paying adequate compensation. SPN shall respond to the housing crisis by building different categories of decent housing estates whose rent will be affordable.

TAX

Lagosians are one of the most taxed people in the world, particularly when you consider the multiple taxation by different agencies and government at various levels. SPN will introduce progressive taxation wherein expensive properties and incomes of the rich shall be heavily taxed while affordable tax for workers.

Lagos Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) is about N23 billion monthly while about N15 billion is collected from federal allocation monthly, but there is very little to show for this. Yet, Lagos is the most heavily indebted state. The SPN government will be run transparently and democratically by elected representatives of workers, communities and government. This is the only way much needed resources will be effectively utilised.

           

The SPN is opposed to the lekki toll, the 1 kilometer Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge and other tolls planned by the Government. SPN shall scrap all tolls because it amounts to multiple taxation.

WORKERS AND CONDITION OF SERVICE

If elected, the SPN government shall ensure the payment of living wage, the provision of decent condition of service and working condition, and the implementation of all national agreements reached with all categories of workers. All this shall be without retrenchment of workers. We shall invoke all necessary powers to ensure that the private sector employers implement national minimum wage and obey labour laws including zero tolerance to casualisation of workers. We shall pay to retired workers decent pension. All political office holders on the platform of SPN shall be subjected to civil service salary structure and earn average wage of a skilled worker.

SOCIALIST PARTY OF NIGERIA (SPN) IS THE POLITICAL ALTERNATIVE

Don't be deceived, APC is an alliance of convenience by disgruntled politicians lacking any progressive ideology to save Nigerians, and whose main agenda is to preserve their inordinate ambition to grab power at the centre, the “soul of the party” is not really different from the much-derided PDP.

           

Ultimately, Nigerians need a credible alternative, not just to replace the PDP in power, but to replace other ruling parties like ACN in Lagos. The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) is the party Workers, Youths and the Poor should join and consciously build in order to save the country from further collapse.

SPN is inviting all those that are seeking change to a general meeting of the party. Date: Saturday July 6, 2013. Time: 12 noon prompt. Address: 162, Ipaja Road, Agbotikuyo, bus stop, Agege.  Contact us on: 08098284000, 07033775517, 08121378435, 08098737370. Email us: socialistpartyofnigeria@yahoo.com Visit our blog for full manifesto of SPN and other information: www.socialistpartyofnigeria.blogspot.com