Mr. Lanre Laoshe was in the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003 on the platform of Alliance for Democracy (AD). He is now gunning for the Senate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to represent the people of Ogun Central senatorial district in 2015. In this interview, the politician and insurance guru, speaks on his plans for Ogun Central if elected. Excerpts: By Daud Olatunji WHat is your inspiration in this contest? Dr Femi Okurounmu: 1999-2003 I think we have not been properly served. And I had a testimonial of service when I was in the House of Representatives representing Abeokuta South federal constituency between 1999 and 2003. I had the honour of probably being the first legislator in Nigeria that succeeded to have four legislations to my name despite being a member of the opposition! I had four bills that became laws assented to by the president of the country then. The fifth one would have sailed through too, but there was not enough time. So I believe that with what I did at the House of Representatives, for the past eleven years, Ogun Central has not been properly represented since then. That is why I am in the race. What would be your agenda in the Senate? I will do a lot of things like improve the federal presence here. For instance, there are enormous environmental problems in Ifo local government – erosions and stuffs like that. Federal government’s attention is required there. Why is FUNAAB not awarding medical degress? Some of my predecessors advanced it a little to attach Federal Medical Centre in Abeokuta as a teaching hospital of FUNAAB, I am going to see that I pursue that to the last. I intend to ensure that federal government interventions in Ogun central are concluded as fast as possible. Amosun: 2003-2007 I want to represent my people in a unique way; all the constituency projects will not be heard of in the television or radio. They will be physically seen and concluded. A lot of people run to the national assembly as if it is chieftaincy title where you wear flowing agbada, no, I want to see my own as a service to the community. I want to be accessible. What is your assessment of the current government in the state? My observation is that because of ineptitude, we are easily carried away with some populist projects. Governance is beyond road building; anybody can build road. It is just calling some contractors and they will build roads. In fact, if you don’t know what to do, you can tell contractor to design new roads for the entire Abeokuta and they will do that. Any sane contractor will design the road because he wants to handle the contract. Building of roads in the state is a good idea but you ask yourself a question: “who is building the roads and who will pay for the cost”? There was an administration in this state that wanted to build roads and then created Ogun Road Maintenance Agency (OGROMA). That agency owned by Ogun state government would build roads in an affordable manner with minimum profit. Iyabode Obasanjo Bello:2007-2011 But guess what; OGROMA employed indigenes of the state to build the roads and that is technology transfer. What another government would have done is to upgrade and improve the agency. All the roads in the western region were built by PWD and that was how Awolowo’s government was able to put roads in all the nooks and crannies of the region. And now you call a Chinese company which will have its own profit element and will not even employ several numbers of our people. What are really the chances of the PDP in 2015? It is very bright. PDP was not defeated in 2011 but lost the election. The difference between losing and being defeated in an election is like nobody steals your money but you misplace it; it is lost. So we lost the election because of the infighting in the party. Now we are coming back when you look at the wicked army of occupation that is Ogun state government that is building bridges. If you build flyovers and you say heavy duty vehicles must not go on it, then why build them? Build things that are standard or don’t build at all. When PDP was here – you may not see it – we built better prospect for Ogun State people than what is going on now. When you demolish people’s houses and you pay them paltry compensation, then you say we should come and do home owners’ charter to *Obadara: 2011-date collect documents to build the houses. The government would have developed a new area with a discount for those of us who lost our homes but no discount whatsoever. Are we criminals? Or the state government is like invading force that doesn’t care about the people? I am sure in the days of Hitler the oppression was not as bad as this. You might also like PDP CONGRESS: Daniel, Kashamu, Abiola’s daughter emerge national delegates in Ogun
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 01:25:28 +0000
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