The issue of state police has sparked off series of debates across the country with the worsening security challenges. Sabur Akanbi Oluwa, the youngest Lawmaker in the LSHA, told Lagos Focus newspaper that the State Assembly strongly supports the establishment of state police. He revealed this and more in this interview.
Excerpts
Let’s meet you, sir
My name is Sabur Akanbi Oluwa, a member representing Ajeromi – Ifelodun constituency 2, Lagos State House of Assembly.
How long have you been in the House?
We’re inaugurated on the 7 June, 2023.
What has it been like being a member of the State Assembly?
It’s a familiar terrain because I have worked in the legislature for most of my professional career. It’s familiar though in a different capacity now.
Take us through your first sojourn and the difference between then and now
I started as a legislative officer and our job is to make the job of honourable members seamless and easy. Now am an honourable member and that makes it easy having worked as a legislative officer for close to 10 years.
Let’s look at your scorecard in these few months
For the seven months that I have been here, as you are aware, this is a new year. In the first six months, we were running a budget that had been passed but we were able to still lobby for some things to come to Ajegunle. The way I see this as a full-time job, aside from what the government can do for us: we have been trying to reach out to the people. Personally, in terms of education before and after my election, we did JAMB coaching for students and bought the JAMB forms for them.
In addition, I have been able to get other agencies of government to come to our aid. For instance, one of the major landmark projects we are going to have in Ajeromi is the intervention in the Tolu School Complex, which happens to be one of the biggest school complexes in West Africa and have more than 20 schools domiciled there.
It is not just going to be minor renovations because we are also going to have new structures coming there and existing ones will be revamped. We are going to have a health centre, a fire service centre and a library too. We have cleared some of our major drainages in anticipation of the rainy season
What difference have you made since the past seven months you came in?
One major thing that has changed is that we now have a voice and we’re now bringing the attention of government to Ajegunle. As you are aware, geographically we are disadvantaged; we are bordered in the South by the Atlantic Ocean where we have the Apapa Port. Some of our concerns cannot be raised by another person. We need to talk about these concerns at every opportunity. I have to talk about what needs to be done in Ajeromi and get people who can help us to intervene in some of these problems.
What motivated you to seek this office?
This office is very small and big as well. In the scheme of things, it’s not very big and; you can still get a couple of things done. What motivated me is, having worked closely in this office for a while, I felt we could get better backing and that is why I threw my heart in the rings.
You come from a family that has a political pedigree. For some people, you may not have merited this office but for your family background. What did you do differently as Sabur, not an Oluwa?
The dynamics of the last election were very clear and different. Am sure as a journalist you saw how we moved and did our campaign door to door to tell people what we want to do for them. That’s what distinguished me. Again, people are becoming politically enlightened, am sure they must have looked at other contenders and decided to vote for me. I will not be the first to come from a politically inclined family.
However, I was also not the only one that contested for this office. How I merited it, is left to the electorates.
What efforts are you making to help the people trust the government and also ensure that the people know what the government is doing at this critical time especially the people at the grassroots level?
We found ourselves in a very dire situation but all hands must be on deck. I am only a lawmaker I don’t implement government policies. My responsibility is well stated in the responsibility that was given to me. Mine is to create policies and laws and create a suitable environment for the executive to execute these plans.
If you noticed at the plenary today, we hit on so many things today and said we needed to sit with the executive to find solutions to some of these problems especially the high cost of living. It’s a very bad situation we have found ourselves in. However, in my little way, I tried to come up with plans on how I could reach out to the people. Am not one to say how I reach out to people.
Again, I don’t have the power to implement these policies. If the government wants to implement all these policies, it’s only my responsibility to ensure that if you are implementing 5000 in Lagos, make sure we get a fair share, at least 500 come to Ajeromi, that’s where I come in. Before now I have been reaching out to people on a personal level especially those that cannot afford the JAMB form.
It’s palliative and some of them are very temporary. I feel we need to find more lasting solutions to these problems.
There is hunger in the land and during the plenary one of the lawmakers made mention of agricultural organisation
When I was growing up I knew that some people even have gardens in their backyards. They are saying things that can be implemented even at a personal level like growing what you need. It may not be sufficient but will still go a long way. I feel some of us have abandoned some of these things and It’s only in trying times like this we remember some of these things.
We will need to encourage people by providing some of these seedlings and also teaching them how to grow them. Some people have never worked on the farm before and they may not know how to go about it. They may have the space but these things have processes and it’s what government can find a way to sensitize people on how to go about it. It’s not going to be easy but we must do it now.
Information, communication and technology are the trend now but some of the youths are taking advantage of the negative aspects of this technology. Are you working out a programme where the youths can use this technology positively?
Anything that has a good side also has a bad side; everything depends on how you want to deploy it. There is a need for total reorientation and patriotism. Why we have become less patriotic because of the anger and apprehension in the country. A lot of people are losing confidence in the system and the only way for us to retain that is to show people that we are doing our best. If you’re putting so much work into something and people are not seeing what you are doing, it’s as good as not doing anything.
They need to know the direction and how much work you are putting into this for them to have confidence in us because as a legislator am also involved. The people need to be carried along that is why there’s a need for the government to deploy information to let people know what is going on.
ICT is a powerful tool and am happy to announce that in months to come there is going to be a vocational centre that will have ICT and it’s going to be world-class. That’s one of the things the government will be doing in our area. That will also encourage people to tilt towards ICT and the tutors will be in a better position to re-orientate them to see the good side of ICT. Mostly when you go to learn about ICT, they teach you the good side but often we tend to learn the bad side on our own. When the ICT centre comes up, it will help with youth engagement.
What’s your level of collaboration with the local governments in the area of implementation?
It’s been good. I remember last week some officials of the state government were in our area for an assessment of the bad roads in the area especially the ones that need maintenance. One of the things we discussed is for our drainages to be cleared and to also know why some of our roads are in the shape they are.
Immediately I rose from that meeting, I met with the local government chairman and he directed that the environment officers should come out with proposals on how the project could be carried out. There are many collaborations and remember that the local government is the closest to the people.
What plans do you have to engage the youths in the area of sports?
Sports are one of our selling points, Sports and entertainment. During my campaign, I leveraged that to host a couple of sporting activities. No one individual can do some of these things alone. That’s why since you already have the interest of most of the people in that area, it’s just for them to deploy some of these things and you can take advantage of it.
These are things we are proposing to the executive; let’s go this route because we have a population that is interested in sports. It will not be so much for us to get people to participate. As I mentioned about the vocational centre coming, it’s going to be beautiful, especially for the youths; to get them off the streets and help them learn one or two skills. If we have a skilled and trained population, it will reduce the level of vices in society.
The relationship between the police and youths in this area is not cordial. The raids by the police against the youths have been on the increase, especially in Ajeromi. We are also talking about the Okada riders as well. What do you think can be done to find a lasting solution to this?
There is a limit to how you can direct someone you don’t have power over. That’s the way the system has been built. I don’t have power over the police, I can only appeal to them sometimes to do the normal thing. We have been having a series of issues when it comes to security and you know that security has become a global issue.
As the House of Assembly, if you were in our plenary last week, that was what we discussed and under the leadership of Mudashiru Obasa, we collectively decided that the way to go is to have the state police. And a couple of days later, President Tinubu also toed the line that it was the way to go. How it’s going to be implemented is another thing because it’s going to affect our security architecture positively.
For instance, if you look at the number of policemen we have in each division, we are grossly under policed and that is a recipe for disaster. The way to go is to make sure that they involve the communities in the policing process. You cannot gather intelligence in an area you are not familiar with, which is the problem we are having because what will a man who grew up in Zamfara state, do to impact policing in Lagos? Maybe he’s even coming to the city for the first time and you know that Lagos is a peculiar place.
As a House of Assembly member, we are championing the cause of having a state police and we believe that if we recruit people locally to police us, we will be better secured.
You are the youngest legislature in the House of Assembly and the youths are in despair. What is your message to them?
We are very resilient people and we have nowhere to go, so we must have to come together and support this country to grow because anywhere we go outside this country, we are still strangers.
We’re in a very sad situation as you can see, but we are going to face the brunt of the situation because most of us are youths and we have young families. The cost of living is rising every day. Some of our parents don’t have kids anymore but we have more mouths to feed and more people to take care of.
My plea to them is that we should not lose confidence in this project Nigeria
Drug abuse is a major problem. What can be done to save some of these youths enmeshed in this habit?
One of the major steps I have taken since becoming a legislator is to co-sponsor a bill on the need to cut drug abuse. Am not one of those who will blame people for taking drugs especially when the person is frustrated and has nowhere to turn to. On what basis are you blaming the person?
We need to encourage ourselves that it’s not the way to go, it’s not going to make us productive. A young population that is infested with drug abuse is a dangerous one that might lead to a disastrous end.
That’s why I encourage people, there’s a need to let them know the consequences of abusing drugs. There is a need to engage the people because frustration and a lot of other things can lead to this.
