In this interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO, Hon. Akeem Abiodun Muniru, member representing Oshodi-Isolo Federal Constituency (Lagos) in the Federal House of Representatives shares his experience as a new member and advocates for special funding for Lagos State.
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Can you tell us what your experience has been as a first time member of the Federal House of Representatives?
It has been very critical period for me, it has been exciting and I have seen that the Seventh National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is made up of very credible people of impeccable character. It is a set of people that are ready to give their best to the Nigerian people; the leadership led by Honourable Aminu Tambuwal is looking at how to touch base with the people. In this Assembly, you will see the progressiveness, you will see forthrightness; you will see that it is not going to be business as usual. It is going to be a House that Nigerians would give kudos to at the end of its tenure. People will say in the course of the history of Nigeria, the Seventh Assembly did a very good job to better the lots of Nigerians.
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For me, my stay in the House has been a learning process, there is serious need for you to be conversant with the rules of conducting the business of the House, you have the rules, the constitution, series of other rules to grapple with and master.
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It has been necessary and challenging and by the grace of God, I am going to rise up to the challenge.
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As the member representing Oshodi-Isolo Federal Constituency 2, what will be your priority areas?
When we were campaigning, we came to the realisation that the youths and the women form a large segment of the society that we have to look at. My focus will be youth education because the youths are the future of the country. If we plan and invest in them, then we would have secured our tomorrow. Doing otherwise would spell doom for the country. We have seen what is happening in Nigeria and we have seen what is happening to other nations, we should not and in whatever way compromise the future of this nation and that is why we have to invest in youth education.
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We must invest in youth employment and every other aspect that has to do with the youths. For our women, due to our social-cultural background, if you educate a woman, you educate a nation, we have to improve on girl-child education. Infrastructure especially within my constituency is top priority, this is a constituency that has federal government infrastructures especially the NNPC which has depot in Ejigbo. There is a PHCN sub-station but their corporate responsibility level is very low. We are going to work in partnership with every other segment of the federal government to bring meaningful democracy to our people. Infrastructure like roads in our constituency is improving; especially chaotic traffic and we can still do more. There is issue of health, water, MDGs; the issue of primary health care centres. We must as representatives put some of these issues in the front burner; employment generation for our people is an issue I will champion, because there are so many of our youths that are graduates today that do not have the opportunity of utilising what they have learnt in schools to develop both themselves and the society.
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It is not everybody in China that is educated but I can tell that an average Chinese can manufacture something and that is what we must learn. I belong to a progressive party,? that is the nature of our party to canvass for what is good for the people such as true federalism, issue of social status for Lagos, whereby a? special allocation should be made to meet the status of the state as a former federal capital. There are so many other issues like the issue of restructuring the federation which I hold dear to my heart.
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These sound lofty, since you belong to a party that is in the minority. How do you hope to go about achieving all these?
Yes, as much as you said it is a minority party, but I don’t know where you get that from, if we look at the process that threw up the leadership of the House, you will appreciate that Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) played a major role in the emergence and that shows that if the people in the minority party can come together, they can influence things. The PDP which has always been the dominant party does not have absolute majority now, they now need the opposition parties. This is why we must be realistic by approaching issue on give and take basis. I can tell you that if all the minority platforms such as Labour Party, ACN, ANPP, APGA,? come together to reasonable number, we can make things happen. All the issues we have discussed at various levels, with other members and when we feel very strong about it, you are going to see a very vibrant house.
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The emergence of the? speaker raised some dust especially in the South West and some people are saying that members of the ACN should have ensured that a member from the area emerge, what is your take on it?
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That is our party‘s stand. We don’t vote based on sentiment, we don’t vote based on primordial considerations, we appraised all the candidates coming forward to lead the House of Representatives and as legislators representing the people, we had to reflect the minds of the people. In the ACN, we reeled out a lot of criteria to be met by the leader, and we discovered that Aminu Waziri Tambuwal met all the criteria.
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We made up our minds that whosoever that is going to lead the House must be competent and must be determined to address the issue of under development affecting our nation; the issue of rotation, the issue of zoning, these are primordial issues.
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An average Nigerian does not care who the president is what he cares for is food on his table, shelter over his head and education for his children. He doesn’t care about whether the leader is Yoruba, Efik, Ibo. What he wants is a bright future for himself and the kids.
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What you are saying now is that the call by PDP for Tambuwal to step aside is uncalled for?
It is not only uncalled for, as I am a Yoruba man, you don’t throw abusive words at the elders but it is absolutely unnecessary and a distraction to the House. A distraction to the nation’s body polity and it is another way of heating up the polity. The issue of the leadership of the house has been resolved on June 26, 2011 and so shall it be in as much as the speaker is able to manage other members effectively well. We have so many issues to deal with in the country than being bogged down by the issue of the speakership.
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Are you satisfied with the way the principal leaders of the House have been conducting the business of the House so far?
Yes! By and large, the leadership business has been conducted in a manner, transparent and it shows that we still have people that could manage this country very well without going outside.
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Some people are advocating for a Federal Ministry of Lagos Affairs. In your own considered opinion, what kind of attention do you think federal government should give to Lagos State?
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For me, there is no need to create another ministry for Lagos affairs because that would amount to a clash of interest and responsibilities with the state government. All we are saying is that Lagos as the former capital territory should be well funded in view of its former status as the nation’s capital.