PEOPLE DON'T UNDERSTAND OUR WORK -Lagos Lawmaker, Hakeem Agboola Masha

He went into the Lagos State House of Assembly in 2011 with the sole aim of legislating to change things in the society for the better. Hon. Hakeem Agboola Masha from Lagos Island Constituency 2 has since been doing that, but what baffles him is that people don't tend to understand the works of legislators.

Despite that, youthful Hon. Masha has been using his position to sensitize the young boys and girls in his constituency on the need to be more serious so that they achieve much in life.

He addressed other issues of interest in this interview.

You are from Lagos Island Constituency, many people believe that some of the boys there are notorious, how have you been able to curtail their activities?

I will like to correct the impression about our boys, they are not area boys and they do not constitute any kind of nuisance in our area. Rather, they have been supportive in the sense that they live in the area, they are always around and make it difficult for all kinds of boys to come around to commit all kinds of atrocities that happen in other places. There are regards for the place, people can say all kinds of things they want to say about our youths. So far, in my constituency, I have been able to bring the boys closer and tell them that where I am today, it is not impossible for anyone of them to be there. I try to let them know that there is a law that prohibits all kinds of illegal acts. Sensitization is what I have been doing and most of them are yielding.

Don't you think that most leaders are disconnected from the people such that people don't have access to good health, education, and social amenities, how do you think we can bridge the gap between the leaders and the people?

The gap between the people and the government can come through change. Change does not come from the government alone, it is two-way, you play your part and the government plays her own part too. But the situation we have found ourselves is such that the people believe that the government should do everything for them, claiming that afterall they pay their taxes, but the fact that you pay your tax does not mean you shouldn't play your own part. You have to co-operate with the government, if the people do not co-operate with the government, there is nothing the government can do that will have impact on them. I think it is just a general thing that both the government and the people should be ready for the required change. If the government is ready and the people are not ready for the change, I can tell you, people would start complaining about the government because they are not ready. People are clamouring for change, they should be ready for the change.

As a lawmaker, where do you think we need change most in our society, is it in the area of education, health or corruption

In all aspects, you have mentioned corruption, it is a general thing, it happens everywhere in the world, but may be it is not as pronounced as we have in this part of the world. If we are talking about change in all aspects, there is no way you want to make change in education, health sector, power and others and we still have corruption, you cannot bring about the change if we don't fight corruption.

You have been in the House of Assembly for two years now, what have you discovered about legislature and the perception of the people about it

Our relationship with the people is such that they don't understand our duties. They see us like council chairmen that are easier to get to because I can tell you that we the legislators are closer to the people than the local government chairmen, people have access to us more than the do to council chairmen and the way they see us is such that they don't even know what we do here. I had invited some of my people to the gallery here and after the sittings, some of them would tell you that they don't even know what we do here, they think we just come here to share money. Some of the constituents come to us and say 'what have you been able to do for us' and I ask them 'what am I supposed to do for you?' I think what we need is to educate them, my next programme would be a sensitization programme, where we would invite past legislators to come and talk to the people about what we do and what it means to be a legislator and what the legislators do in the assembly. They don't really know what we do, which is why they come to us for all sorts of financial assistance.

July 08, 2013