Daniel Tackles Amosun over Desperation to Increase IGR
A non-governmental organisation, Save the Children, has called on the federal and government and the states to introduce measures that will prevent children from dying from preventable diseases.
The Youth Ambassador of the organisation, Maryam Ahmed, made the call yesterday at a press conference on Saturday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Children (UNCRC).
She revealed that at least 5.9 million children die annually across the world from preventable diseases, such as pneumonia
She said, “After 100 years, we are still here fighting for our rights to be of importance, we are the most marginalised and deprived group and the ones directly affected by decisions made 5.9 million children are still dying from preventable diseases every year.”
The youth ambassador said that across the world, four girls under the age of 15 get married every 15 seconds, while 317 million children could not read or write despite being in school
She added that yearly, 1.7
billion children are still affected by violence with more than 420 million living in conflict zones globally, indicating a rise of nearly 30 million from 2016.
Ahmed noted that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has achieved some of its goal which included; the decrease in under five children dying from preventable diseases; large decrease in number of stunted children and out of school children, but noted that more still needed to be done.
She therefore called on the federal government to define specific actions to protect the right of every child especially the marginalised and deprived.
She also called on government to include children in its decision making process and follow rights defined in the UNCRC especially in situations of armed conflict, while also calling on states that have not domesticated the child rights act to do so.
Also, Director of Advocacy and Campaign of Save the Children, Amanuel Mamo, said domestication of the Child Rights Act in some states was a good step, but should not end there.
A former governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel, has accused the immediate past governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosun of overburdening the people of the state with tax all in desperation to increase internally generated revenue.
He spoke at the weekend during an interactive session with journalists ahead of the commissioning of his hotel -Conference Hotel in Abeokuta, which was closed down for eight years by Amosun.
Daniel particularly condemned what he described as over-taxation that dotted the Amosun era, saying that increasing internally generated revenue to the detriment of the people leaves much to be desired.
“Why should the IGR increase to N7bn without translating to the wellbeing of the people? Should you tax them to death to generate such humongous amount? When civil servants are earning N20, 000 and you are taking N5000 from it as tax, you are killing the people.”
He, however, said that he no longer bore grudges against the administration of former Governor Ibikunle Amosun that closed down his multi-million dollar Conference Hotel in Abeokuta, for eight years.
He said: “What has happened has happened; it’s forward ever, backward never.
“There is no crown without a cross and there is no success without a challenge….I believe that’s the way God wants it.
“To forgive is divine, and I don’t waste time over things we cannot change. Let’s move on with life. The important thing is that I’m alive.
I’m alive; it is not the intention of these people that you (journalists) are talking about.”
He nonetheless described as ridiculous, the accusation by the last administration in Ogun State that he cut corners to the tune of N10million to acquire the land upon which his hotel is built, noting that he is worth much more than that.
“I know what I went through here over the N10m land accusation. In Maryland in Lagos, I purchased my house’s land for N25 million and you all can attest to how much the building is worth. This was when I was not in government; so how would I steal N10m to acquire a land?”
Daniel added that his intention was to reverse the common notion that Ogun is a civil service state, through encouragement of private investment to enhance job creation, and that he personally spearheaded such by investing in the hospitality business.
“Out of the monthly allocations accruing to Ogun State, salary was taking 80 percent and that’s why the state was called a civil service state; but we felt things should not continue that way.
“Part of the challenge we had was how to diversify the economy and we saw a good opportunity in tourism…that’s why we developed the Olumo Rock, so that other people, especially foreigners, can bring money to the state.
“The (educational) institutions produce 100,000 graduates of Ogun State origin every year; so how can we absorb them without the industries and all the rest?”, he explained.