The
representative of Mushin
Constituency 1 got to the Assembly in 2003, and now she is one of the three
fourth term lawmakers in the Assembly.
Having
headed several committees and serving as the Deputy Speaker of the House,
Tejuosho is ready to be the next Speaker of the highly rated Assembly despite
the fact that several men are interested in the exalted office.
You
are the only female contestant for the post of the Speaker in the 7th
Lagos State House of Assembly, what are your
chances in the race?
My
chances are very high; I have so very much trust in my colleagues and my
leaders in the party. I have been in the assembly since 2003 and I have been
loyal to my party. I have been given a lot of awards even by the correspondents
covering the Assembly under the auspices of Lagos State House of Assembly
Correspondents Association (LAHACA). So, if the press can recognize the fact
that I am working, I want the people to know that I take my work very
seriously. I am a lawyer by profession, and I have been trained to work hard.
We tell our children to work very hard. I believe my chances are very high, I
have the support of my colleagues in the House and my party leaders, and I take
God first in everything I do. My constituents have always been very supportive
of me, I am the only woman amongst the three of us that are coming to the
assembly for the fourth term and for me to be up there ahead of so many men, I
think it is encouraging. Some of my constituents, who are representatives of
the League of Imams from Odi-Olowo/Ojuwoye in Mushin just came to give me a congratulatory
letter, and they supported me for the election. I am a Christian, but I believe
that both Muslims and Christians should work together and I am a representative
of both Muslims and Christians. I give them due recognition and I carry them
along.
Are
you not intimidated that you are competing with men?
Not
at all, I am never intimidated; I have always worked in an environment
dominated by men. I am a lawyer by profession, and when you talk about being
called to the bar, I am the most senior lawyer in the LSHA, and I feel that we
are ready for that change that we talk about in Lagos State.
It is not just that I am competing as a woman; I feel that I am very
experienced and I am hard working. I believe that being a team player would
work for me. We are 40 members in the House and the Speaker is just first among
equals. I have held positions of authority in this Assembly in the past. I
believe that there is nothing that I ought to learn that I have not learned and
I understand the budget of the House very well; I believe that this is one of
the primary duties of a lawmaker. I am the Chairman of the Finance Committee of
the House and I believe that the finance of any institution is the lifeline of
that institution. I believe that for me to chair the Finance Committee, I must be
doing something good.
LAGOS ASSEMBLY IS NOT A RUBBER STAMP
-Olanrewaju Ibrahim Layode (OIL)
Hon.
Olanrewaju Ibrahim Layode from Badagry Constituency 1 is a ranking member of
the Lagos State House of Assembly.
He
is someone, who believes so much that you must have your views on critical
issues and defend it to the last, which is why he is sometimes alone in his
views on the floor of the House.
We
recently had an interview session with Hon. Layode, who is the Chairman House
Committee on Agriculture and Co-Operatives, and he spoke on issues bothering on
the last elections, the current assembly and the forthcoming 8th
Assembly.
How
would you describe the last general elections?
The
election was so tough and very interesting. It was encouraging because people
had been discouraged about our democracy. Our electoral institutions have
confused a lot of people, which was why they didn’t have interest in the
system. But I want to say that the current Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) has performed above average. Their new innovation, card
readers enabled us to see the true picture of voting pattern. However, we still
had some lapses, where some people hijacked electoral officers and ballot
boxes. I think we need to provide more security for our electoral officers. The
card readers enabled us to know the people that would be in a particular polling
unit. The government should provide security for electoral officers because
they forced some of them to do what they couldn’t have done ordinarily. The
machine helped and if the machines are not working well, the manual registers
were used, this is commendable. If we have enough security for the electoral
officers, we wouldn’t have the kind of problems we have in Rivers State,
where the big boys were just doing whatever they liked. We are getting there
gradually, but if we have enough security, it would be better. You could see
that they had to do re-run in Abia, Imo and Taraba States.
Your
party, the APC represents change and you are now at the centre, how soon will
the change come and how best can we have it?
We
talk of change and you would know that it is a gradual process. You can also
see what is happening in the country, whereby NNPC is being queried about their
activities. At the end of the day, if the president could say that they should
show their reports, you can see that things are changing. In those days, who
could query the president and even the Minister of Petroleum could not honour
the invitation of the National Assembly. We thank God that things are changing
and the President can no longer say he doesn’t owe anybody any apology. If he
could come out to say he is interested in the report, you can see what we are
talking about. The change would come gradually, in most other areas where we
are talking of corruption like in power generation. All those areas would be
questioned now; nobody knows how much the power companies are generating.
Electricity is the major area, where people want change, you pay for
electricity and you cannot enjoy the facility. If you question them, they would
remove your wire, now they would sit up because they are following the wind of
change. I remember when Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) came as a military man in
1983 then people could not throw rubbish on the streets, I went to Singapore
sometime ago and I could see that they have imbibed it in their children that
you could not even drop toilet paper on the roads. We are spending the money
that could have been used for another thing to take care of the roads. We are
also encouraging corruption as the followers, but we blame our leaders.
The
7th Assembly is winding up and in the 8th Assembly, we
are going to have eight PDP members, is it going to be business as usual?
I
don’t understand the business as usual you are talking about, but nothing would
change our order paper, it would remain as it is, the rules would remain, but
we can amend some when necessary. Even as 40 APC members, we argue amongst
ourselves though the noise of those who say no might not be as much as those
who say yes. if you talk about the PDP, they are eight and we in APC are 32,
but if you have contrary views, you would not fight, you would just talk. The
way we do things here, nobody can say we are rubber stamp. I can say it
anywhere that anyone that has served as a lawmaker here can serve anywhere. If
you have passed through here even as a first term member, you can serve
anywhere. For those that are not coming back, I can say they can handle any
political office. Well, if you talk of the opinion of the party, we still
defer. I remember when they talk about pensions for the Speaker and Deputy
Speaker, I was against the bill. I am still against it until it becomes part of
our constitution in Nigeria.
Do
you think the fact that most of the principal officers of the house including
the Deputy Speaker and the Speaker are not coming back would affect the House?
Not
at all, when the oldest man in the house dies, others would replace him, all of
us cannot remain in the compound for life, someone would still remain. If you
talk of the Methuselah of the House, we are now having about three fourth term
members and three third term members. There are still people who can tell you
the genesis of the Assembly since 1999, some came in 2003 and some came in
2007. So, it is not a regret.
Some
people say that it is not so good to allow those that have been trained by the
House to go like that, and allow fresh set of people to come?
I
agree with you that experience counts, even in the executive, people count
experience, which is why they called for Buhari, who has had experience as a
former head of state because he would know the problem of the country to be our
president. The same thing happens here, someone that has been trained to handle
budget, trained to perform oversight functions in different ministries would
perform better than a new person, like I have been trained for eight years.
There is not ministry you give me that I cannot supervise except finance, yet I
can use a consultant to work with me. If I am given Judiciary committee, I
would get a lawyer to guide me and consult for me.
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