Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Communications, Hon. Saheed Akinade-Fijabi has disclosed that he has facilitated over N1 billion naira project to his constituency and Ibadan, the Oyo State capital in less than two years.
The two-term lawmaker, who represents Ibadan North West / Ibadan South West federal constituency, spoke while fielding questions from members of the South West Group of Online Publishers (SWEGOP), in Ibadan, during the week.
Akinade-Fijabi said that what he has done in less than two years of his second term in office has outweighed what he did in the entire four years of his first term, adding that it is good for lawmakers to be allowed to “repeat the class as many times as possible.”
According to him, “If I have had the opportunity of being the speaker or deputy-speaker, I would have done more. If you go to Osun now, you will see the projects Hon. Lasun has been able to facilitate to his constituency. That is the reason why we keep telling our leaders in the party that as legislators, it is better to give us chance to repeat the class as many times as possible. It is very important. What I was able to do in my first term, you can’t compare it to what I have been able to do in the last two years.
“I know in the last two years, I have been able to facilitate projects very close to a billion Naira to Oyo State. If you go to the Ring Road Hospital and Adeoyo Hospital, there are some maternity wards renovated by MTN, that is through facilitation; just down the road here at the Oyo State College of Hygiene, Eleyele, there is a project worth about N300 million. And if you go to UCH, which is not even in my constituency, just to show you that what I think about is how to develop Oyo State and not just my constituency alone. Just go to UCH and see, it is there.
“The problem about politicians, especially the past politicians, which we should correct is that they have turned our rights into privileges. The moment they dig a borehole in an area, they will go to Gbagi Market, buy ankara and people will be dancing round and be commissioning. When I was growing up in Orogun, if you open our taps then, water was running. We should be moving forward not backwards. I didn’t even understand what borehole meant then. It is your right to walk on good roads, to attend good schools, to have access to good health care; it is your right not privilege. Though I am also part of them anyway, politicians have turned our rights to privileges.
“I was somewhere yesterday, they were saying “won ma npariwo ninu oselu ni” (you have to make noise in politics). I said leave it. What I believe is that any project done, so far it is useful and people are benefitting from it, let us move on to another one. We have a lot of people who would do a project of N10 and use N100 to make noise about it. Why don’t you use the resources you are spending to embark on another one. And no matter the amount of noise you make, it doesn’t even mean people will vote you in in the next election.
In my constituency, we have done over 40 boreholes but it is still not right in this century to be digging borehole everywhere, it is not right. I told you, back in the 70s, water was running in Orogun. So what has happened? That is the reason people think I am not making noise about what I am doing.
On the motions and bills he has moved and sponsored, the young lawmaker explained that he has moved and sponsored many, saying that, “these includes the one on cervical cancer. I cannot remember all. They are over 17. But the work of lawmaking is a process. Some people might not be performing in the plenary, you may not see them on the TV or hear them on the Radio, but they may be performing at the committee level. If you see a member that does not appear on the TV, that does not mean he does not work, because we have 360 members and about 200 attend sitting at a time. And we have limited time, so it is not possible for everybody to talk. And moreover, you may not be available to watch the TV when your representative is talking,” he explained.
