As elections loom, how many gubernatorial candidates are aware of the fact that urban renewal will be the biggest challenge they face  and have policies like this to address it 

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Our state Ministry of the Land, Housing and Urban Development will be responsible for granting settlements charters that grant them city status

[2] To be granted city status, an urban settlement must have a cathedral, central mosque, university, central post office, at least 10 secondary schools, a city centre, a shopping mall and unemployment must have been under 5% over the last five years

[3] In every city, the heart and soul of the community must be the city centre, which will be a downtown pedestrianised zone

[4] Every city centre must have a car-free shopping street lined on both sides with shops and department stores

[5] Every city will have as directly elected mayor responsible for maintenance

[6] City councils will also be elected and will be independent of state governors

[7] Citizenship of cities will be defined by birth

[8] All cities will be secular zones in which religious police will be prohibited

[9] City councils will be responsible for providing social housing and will have annual targets set. Special mortgage banks will provide low interest loans for this purpose

[10] City councils will be set emission targets and must ensure that at least 20% of their communities are open green spaces. This will be supervised by the Federal Ministry of the Land, Housing and Urban Development and failing cities can have their charters revoked.