By Sunday Ani
The Deputy Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly and Senator-elect for the Lagos Central Senatorial District, Hon Wasiu Sanni Eshinlokun, has said that security would be the topmost priority of the incoming government of Asiwaju Bola Ahmedu Tinubu.
He noted that the primary purpose of any government is to secure lives and property of the citizens, stressing that for any meaningful development to take place, there must be absolute security of lives and property of the citizens.
He stated this in his office when the leadership of the Lagos State House of Assembly Correspondent Association (LAHACA) presented a meritorious service award to him.
In this interview, he shared his experiences as the deputy speaker for eight years, his thoughts on the areas the incoming government should pay priority attention and the expectations of the people of his senatorial zone from him among others.
Having served as a deputy speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly for eight years, can you recount your low and high moments? Are there things you would have done differently?
Whether there are things I would have loved to do better or differently, I think I gave my all in the prevailing circumstances while I served in the House. I don’t think I had any let or hindrance, and I also think that we tried to do what is best for our state and the Assembly. So, I would again say that with the prevailing circumstances, I think we gave our best and we did our best.
What do you think the people of Lagos Central Senatorial district would expect from you as you represent them at the upper legislative chamber?
I think they should expect effective and efficient representation. They should expect very robust contributions on the floor of the Senate. They should look forward to initiation of bills that would aid the development of our country, Nigeria. And in terms of impacting people of my senatorial zone, I will take queue from Senator Oluremi Tinubu for what she was able to do for our senatorial district. She did extremely well. She was exceptional and I hope to borrow a leaf from what she has done and try to repeat her feat.
On May 29, a new government will be inaugurated; which areas of the country’s national life do you think the incoming president should focus on?
Well, apparently the budget is specific; all sectors are to be impacted positively. There is no sector that has not been given one allocation or the other in the budget, but as we speak in Nigeria today, what the incoming government should focus on is the security issues, both internal and external. The Boko Haram, ISWAP, banditry, and kidnapping among others are the internal security issues that we should focus on with a view to minimizing or reducing them to almost zero. This is because the primary purpose of government is to secure lives and property of the citizens and for any meaningful development to take place, there must be absolute security of lives and property. So, I think that is one of the things that the incoming administration must focus on.
And regarding the external security threat, our country must be protected from any kind of external aggression, be it belligerent or armed conflict, so that we will be able to focus on development. And aside from security, we must as a nation, tackle the issue of power. The power generation must increase. The distribution must also improve because that is the only way our industries can compete favourably. For now, most industries will not be able to compete, although our labour and salaries have been reduced. When we have high cost of power, our products will not be able to compete effectively with products from the other nations; and that kills our industries. So, we must tackle power so as to unleash our potentials as a nation. We must also tackle education and health. We must equally be able to reduce incessant strikes by certain sectors of the economy. Strikes without limitation by lecturers should not be encouraged and if anything happens in that sector, I think all sectors of the economy and all arms of the government should be involved. Even if it is strike by lecturers, the national assembly should be involved with a view to resolving whatever the agitations might be. A situation where we keep our students in their various homes for six months because of strike cannot be tenable. And strikes by our lecturers for certain number of months should not be encouraged.
We must also find solution to issues in the critical sectors like the medical and health sector. We must find a way to avoid strikes in such sectors. They must protest against whatever that is not good for them but it must not be indefinite because health is life and it will be affected. In the organised climes, what they do is to give notice of strike. They may give three days, one week or two weeks’ notice, and once the period elapses, they go back to work. We cannot continue to allow indefinite strikes; we cannot toy with the future of our children. Everybody must be involved; it must be a give and take kind of arrangement. The lecturers must be able to give and the Federal Government must also be able to take.
Recently, the Oba of Lagos conferred on you one of the sensitive chieftaincy titles in the palace; how do you intend to sustain the title?
For me, I think it is to continue to offer exemplary leadership. I must continue to serve and contribute to the development of Lagos State.
Your party, the APC has anointed some legislators both in the House of Representatives and Senate, to occupy the leadership positions of the national assembly, and this has not gone down well with some legislators-elect. How do you think the party can wriggle out of this impending crisis and avoid a repetition of the 2015 incident?
Well, I think that for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, the party should play prominent roles in choosing its leadership. I also think there are factors to be considered in choosing whoever that would emerge as the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. For the Senate President, it is very obvious that it must come from the South. And the person must also be a Christian because in the last election, the Muslim-Muslim ticket has drawn churches into the electoral process and it should not be.
So, to ensure balance in religious faith, since the president and the vice president are both Muslims, it makes a lot of sense that the Senate President must be a Southern Christian.
And as we speak now, only three senators are qualified to be senate president if you put that factor into play, and those are Godswill Akpabio, Orji Uzor-Kalu and Osita Izunaso. It will either be given to the South-South or the South East and that will also depend on the roles those regions played in the victory of our great party. Luckily, one has been given the senate president and the other, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives; I think that is a fair share. For members from the North Central zone that said they were not taken along, they have a right to complain. But, I think it is not only the senate president, deputy senate president, speaker or deputy speaker of the House of Representatives that should be at play now; there are other positions that can be given to the region. The party has the government, so they should look at other positions that can be given to the North Central zone. However, it is right for them to complain, and it is also right for the leadership of the country and national assembly to look at what they can give to the region. It is not a rocket science. I think that everybody should be accommodated. It doesn’t have to be Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives; there are other positions that can be given to them.
