On Wednesday, February 15, 2023, four gubernatorial candidates vying for leadership roles in the Lagos state met to debate prevalent societal issues and their proposed policies if elected into office in the upcoming February 2023 elections.
The candidates present at the debate include Adeniran Olajide of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who is popularly known as Jandor, and Olufunsho Doherty of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Others are Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP) and Taofeek Uthman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Akin Braithwaite of the National Rescue Movement (NRM). The incumbent governor of the state and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was absent.
The event consortium comprises the Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID), The Electoral College Nigeria, the Africa Leadership Group, Civic Hive, and Sahkola Foundation.
The debate was broadcasted on Newscentral TV and Lagos Talks FM from 6 p.m. and streamed live on Facebook and YouTube.
Kunle Lawal, the Executive Director of The Electoral College Nigeria, in the statement, said the debate would provide the platform for the candidates to discuss their ideas for the state.
As expected, most of the candidates made several claims which may or may not be true, false, or just plain exaggeration. Here are fact checks conducted by DUBAWA to ascertain what is true and what is not out of the barrage of information shared during the debate:
Claim 1:
CLAIM: Kunle Uthman, the governorship candidate for the Social Democratic Party, said the environmental impact assessment of Eko Atlantic shows it was a wrong decision.
FINDING: A report by Royal Haskoning titled Environment and Social Impact Assessment of the Eko Atlantic Shoreline project did not mention that the Eko Atlantic was a wrong decision.
According to the report, the Eko Atlantic project has completed a full and comprehensive Environmental and Social Impact Assessment under the Nigerian Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Acct — no 86 of 1992.
Meanwhile, in January 2012, the Federal Ministry of Environment gave EIA approval to Eko Atlantic’s submissions in combination with several follow-up actions.
VERDICT: Unproven
SOURCE: Royal Haskoning
DATE: February 15, 2023.
Claim 2:
CLAIM: The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, said Lagos is one of the sinking cities in the world.
FINDING: In multiple lists, Lagos, Nigeria, is counted as one of the cities in the world that are sinking due to rising sea levels and excessive groundwater withdrawal. An article published by World Economic Forum links global warming and rising sea levels to Lagos flooding.
VERDICT: Correct
SOURCE: World Economic Forum, Times of India
DATE: 15/02/2023.
Claim 3:
CLAIM: Kunle Uthman, the gubernatorial candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), claims the constitution does not give a governor the discretion to allocate Local Government funds.
FINDING: Section 162 of the 1999 constitution prescribes how revenue should be distributed between the three tiers of government. Sub-section 8 that: “The amount standing to the credit of Local Government Councils of a State shall be distributed among the Local Government Councils of that State on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of the State.”
VERDICT: CORRECT
SOURCE: 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
DATE:15/02/2023.
Claim 4:
CLAIM: The gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, said Lagos has consistently turned down the local government autonomy bill.
FINDING: The Nigerian senate has made several attempts to pass the local government autonomy bill into law. In 2018, the Senate, during the 1999 amendment, introduced the clause for local government autonomy. Twenty-seven states of the federation, including Lagos, rejected the clause. By March 2022, the Senate had passed the bill into law. However, states’ houses of assembly, including Lagos, vetoed the bill. Also, in January 2023, the Lagos state house of assembly, among others, refused to approve bills seeking financial and legislative autonomy for local governments.
VERDICT: Correct
SOURCE: Business Day, The Cable, Tribune
DATE: 15/02/2023
Claim 5:
CLAIM: The gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, said, “a lot of Nordic countries are below sea level.”
FINDING: The Nordic countries are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden; the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland; and the autonomous region of Åland.
There are 33 countries identified to be Countries with Land Areas Below Sea Level; only Finland and Denmark are Nordic countries found on the list.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCE: geology.com
DATE: 15/02/2023
Claim 6:
CLAIM: Funso Doherty, the gubernatorial candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said the Lagos State Government says out of a 1.7 trillion naira budget, we are spending N1 trillion on capital expenditure.
FINDING: Lagos State’s most recent budget passed from the state House of Assembly for 2023 is N1.768 trillion. The breakdown of the approved budget showed N748.096 billion as recurrent expenditure and N1.019 trillion as capital expenditure. The state Governor Sanwo-Olu submitted a budget of N1.69 trillion, out of which he proposed N932.7 billion for capital expenditure.
VERDICT: CORRECT
SOURCE: The Guardian, Lagos State government website.
DATE: 15/02/2023
Claim 7:
CLAIM: The candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran (Jandor), said Lagos has a 180km waterfront.
FINDING: Lagos’ coastline accounts for 180km out of Nigeria’s total 850 kilometres. Forty per cent of the state is covered by water.
VERDICT: Correct
SOURCE: The Cable
DATE: 26/10/2022
Claim 8:
CLAIM: Mr Funso Doherty, the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said that the pension industry is about N15 trillion.
FINDING: According to a report by the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, the total pension assets in the country reached N15 trillion last December, when it experienced a growth of N1.5 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Another report by Daily Trust stated that the aggregate pension assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) hit N15 trillion, according to data from the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
VERDICT: CORRECT
SOURCE: Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, Daily Trust.
DATE: 15/02/2023
Claim 9:
CLAIM: Olajide Adeniran, gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos state, said the state sits on 3,577 square kilometres of land in an attempt to correct the male host who said Lagos occupies 1,171 square kilometres of land.
FINDING: National Bureau of Statistics data shows that Lagos state occupies 3,671 square kilometres and 1,433 square miles.
Also, the Lagos state government, on its website, gave the territorial land area as 358,862 hectares or 3,577 sq. km.
VERDICT: CORRECT
SOURCE: NBS, Lagos government website
DATE: 15/02/2023
