I ADMIRE BEING A SOLDIER-Lagos Lawmaker, Bolaji Yusuf Ayinla (BYA)

Hon. Bolaji Yusuf Ayinla aka BYA is as blunt as they come, he is one lawmaker, who likes to hit the nail on the head. BYA from Mushin Constituency 2 got to Lagos State House of Assembly in 2003 and since then he has been waxing stronger as a force to reckon with in the House and the people's lawmaker is popular amongst his people as a public office holder, who loves to give back to the society.

Surprisingly however, BYA, who is also a successful businessman and marketer, actually planned to be a soldier or even a pilot, but providence changed these as he was rejected because of his then poor eyesight. Another bombshell from the politician is the declaration that he had planned not to further his education afterwards, but thanks to his father, who insisted that his children must be educated as his own father did not send him to school.

So, here is BYA today, doing his best to change the society, having acquired knowledge as a marketer in different schools in the United Kingdom and having joined politics, through which he got to his present office. He spoke on issues of importance in this interview he granted us recently.

You started visits to government parastatals and agencies as the Chairman of Public Accounts (State), what informed the visits

What actually happened was that during the auditor general reports of 2011 that we went through with ministries and MDAs, hospitals and schools, we found out that there were projects that were done half way, some were abandoned and some were progressing, so to do checks and balances we have to visit the MDAs and I like doing things the way they should be done, these are tax payers money, people sent us here, at the end of the journey, we will account for them and for God and I want to be able to defend my job when I am giving my accounts to my people, I go back to my constituency every three months to give them the reports of my stewardship in the assembly and I have a magazine. All these things are parts of what I give to them. Yes, His Excellency, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola is performing, but his eyes cannot be everywhere, and that is the honest truth and so he is performing his function and we as legislators have to perform our oversight functions on MDAs. We have to double check, is it genuinely the job has been done to that percentage that the auditor general report said or has the job been abandoned or is it moving forward based on the report, physical thing is better and that was what prompted my committee to do the inspection.

Specifically, you want to tell us where you have visited and the discoveries

Yes, we have been to the Ministry of Environment, Justice, Civil Service Commission, LASAA, Board of Internal Revenue and we will still visit so many others. Like LASCOM, we found out that the four-storey building under construction is going on very well, people are working there, we spoke to the contractors in-charge, and we spoke to some of the staff on site. We are happy because we are looking at the percentage the Auditor General report gave to the Lagos State House of Assembly, comparing it to what we see physically. For now, things are going the way we want, we have not found anybody wanting of the percentage apart from some few who have collected 60% of the money and have only done 40% of the job. For now, it is too early, I can't judge now until we get to the middle of the inspection, that is when I can tell you if they have actually done well.

Last year sir, your committee came up with a damning report that indicted some of the MDAs, there were so many things they did not do, which you mandated them to do, I would want to know how far they have complied

Their compliant level is very good, it is about 55% for now and we are still checking because they know that if they don't comply, we will bring them down to face the entire 20 million Lagosians so that they can know what they are doing. We are legislators, we are carrying out our own oversight functions, we will not hesitate to expose any contractor or any of the MDAs or anybody that took the job of the government without performing or doing it satisfactorily or without doing it to be equivalent to the money they gave them, we will not hesitate to expose them.

Away from this, you once said that you wanted to be a soldier, we will like to know why this did not materialize

Thank you very much, I admire being a soldier because I believe they are defending the country, I went to the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna, I was actually given admission, but along the line, because of my eyes, I was rejected, how many soldiers have you seen wearing glasses, you don't wear glasses to shoot guns, so I was rejected because of my eyes, I also tried to become a pilot at Zaria Aviation Centre, I was there in the first month and they found out I had a bad eyesight, no pilot would wear glasses to fly an airplane, so I gave it up too. So, I went to the United Kingdom to study marketing.

You actually said that at a point you were frustrated, you didn't want to go to school, when did the motivation now come

It came immediately, you know I was young when my mother died, so my father was the one that brought me up and when the NDA did not work and Aviation did not work, I said I was not going anywhere again, but my father said 'you dare not, that you have to find something else to do.' So, I had no choice because I feared my father, I realized he was the only one I had, I didn't have a mother, those who have mother could run to their mother or father, but in my own case, I had no mother, so he was the only one I had. He always said that his father did not send him to school, but that he would do everything possible to make sure his children went to school and he did. He sent me to Methodist Primary School, Muslim High School, Sagamu, and Centre for Management and Marketing Studies in the United Kingdom, London Executive College, UK, all I did pure marketing, I am a member of the Institute of Marketing United Kingdom and Nigeria today.

How would you describe the security situation of Nigeria today

It is zero and the basic problem is electricity, energy, any country that doesn't have constant supply of electricity, there is nothing you can do for such a country. With light, there would be job, security, good roads, electricity it plays important roles in everything. If I become the President of Nigeria today, I would make sure I do only one thing and that thing is to make sure that we have infrastructure in Nigeria, employment, good health and so many other things. I would concentrate on electricity, with it, there would be good hospitals, efficiency and effectiveness would be the best thing that we can do that we will have everywhere. Once there is electricity, hospitals can carry out operations effectively, they can do x-ray, there would be good roads. Those who commit crimes do not do so when there is light; they hide under darkness to do it. All the countries that we visit, they power their countries and they have light everywhere. In Nigeria, you may have light in a road, but you see some other roads, there will be no light, my driver was coming to my house today, around 6 am, somebody was coming at his back, because it was dark, he couldn't see the person and he was stabbed at the back. Where there is electricity, the police would be able to locate the person that committed the crime and people would see him, police would be able to radio each other. Any President of Nigeria that solves electricity problem has done everything, computer would work, there would be communication. When there is electricity, things would be cheaper, there would be effective road transportation, good communication, industries would spring up here and there. Somebody making ice block would do it, others would be able to work. If you employ 95% of Nigerians as soldiers and there is no electricity, it is zero, the other 5% would still commit crime under darkness. Once, there is electricity, your fridge would work, your food in the fridge would be safe, I sat down and I look at the problem and I see that it is electricity that we need.

Sir, towards 2015, some people have sat down and said that we need permanent voters card and INEC is saying may be we would use the National Identity Card to vote

Everything is still related to electricity, all those countries that use electronic voting systems, once there is light, the issue of argument will stop. Once I know the person in front of me and the photograph is there, I have so many gadgets that I can use to trace him on the system, everything would be fine. But because they did not get their priority right and they did not arrange everything properly, then we have problems in Nigeria. Other countries will have elections and within 5 or 6 hours the result is out, it is because they have efficient electricity. They put data in the computer and it will give them what they want. Why is it that in Europe and the United States of America, once you vote, your finger print will be seeing everywhere because there is electricity, we will continue to have problems until the right person that has plans comes to power. You know they don't have plans, most of the people in positions in Nigeria do not have plans and once you don't have plans before getting to power, you would fumble because you don't know what to do. But somebody that has plans, once he gets into position, he would work. Tell them to sit down and arrange their priority, somebody that is hungry, you are giving him 'okada,' somebody that needs good health, you are talking about clothing, it is wrong, put the right peg in the right hole. Give the person that is hungry food, cover somebody that is naked clothe, give somebody that is thirsty water, give somebody that needs effective transport transportation. Why do we bombard our highways with trailers, because we don't have proper lighting, if we have good electricity, railways would transport the materials from one place to another and there would be less traffic. Once electricity is okay, you can come out from your street and enter government buses. Look at the map of how railway is run from Europe to America, it is efficiency, efficiency by electricity in that country. You see some people, because they see others, they say they want to come to public office too. When you ask me about 2015, I say as God wants it, somebody who would not be alive tomorrow is talking about 2015, the one they gave us, we have not even completed it, we have not even fulfilled half of the promise we made to them. People ought to tell the people clamouring for 2015 now to go and die because they are the enemies of the country. How can you be talking of 2015, when you have not even completed the job they gave you in 2011, they gave you a mandate of four years, you have not even spent two years, they don't have electricity, water infrastructure, no good schools or roads, and you are talking about 2015, vanity upon vanity is equal to vanity, they don't have the fear of God. When they tell me about 2015, I tell them to keep quiet, if I'm alive, when we get to the river, we will cross it, people that you have done something for will tell you we want you, you can go again, that is what I want. I am not going to tell anybody I am going to contest for anything, they should judge me by what I have put back into my constituency, which is what I want to be known and remembered for.

May 27, 2013