He is one of the most articulate
lawmakers the Lagos State House of Assembly boasts of. Hon. Yishawu Gbolahan
from Eti Osa Constituency 2 is in the House for the first term, but he has been
able to prove that he has much for the people of the state. He was the mover of
the Anti-Smoking Bill that has now been passed into law by the assembly and the
law has been generating news all over the state.
We met with the young politician
recently and he spoke extensively on the law that he said is dear to him, and
also used the opportunity of the interview to react to some other important
questions.
What informed your decision to come
up with a Bill to ban smoking in public places that is now a law?
The greatest asset of any nation is
human resources, not oil or gold and Nigeria has abundant human resources. So
for us to ensure that our people stay healthy, we have to do things that are
not inimical to their health, smoking is bad and injurious to health. You can
even see it on the pack of the cigarette that smoking is dangerous and that
smokers are liable to die young, the smoke coming from smokers is equally
dangerous and hazardous to others. The substance coming from it causes cancer;
it affects the lung, kidney and even bladder. It affects fertility in men and
women and is even more prominent in women than men. So, it is meant to
safeguard the lives of the seeming Lagosians.
What sensitization plan is on ground
to ensure the police do not start harassing people before the law becomes
operational?
The Bill passed by the assembly is
waiting for the assent of the Governor, of course the police know the law and
if you rights are infringed upon, you can complain, it is always like that, but
on awareness, we will definitely do that, it has become our tradition to do
that. The law provides for six months period after it is signed by the Governor
before it is implemented, it gives ample time to sensitize our people about it.
Initially, when the okada (motorcycle) law came in, people fell their rights
were being infringed upon, but later, they realized it is not so. I think it
has even become a joke that two guys were coming late in the night and they
asked them where they were coming from and when they said they were coming from
a club, the police said that they must be gay and got them arrested. I’m sure
it is a joke. Our awareness and sensitization would be done.
Where do we regard as public places?
Public places are where you don’t
have exclusive right to such as private offices, where people come, offices and
other places where people go.
What of the tax the government is
getting from Tobacco companies, will the law not affect sales of cigarettes and
then the revenue of the companies and a drop in the taxes being collected by
the government?
Is it PAYE or VAT, thank God that a
public hearing was held here on the issue and it was discovered that when a ban
is placed on sales of cigarettes, it doesn’t affect sales of the products. Even
in restaurants, where smoking was banned in the United States, their sales grew
by 1%, people that would not stop smoking would not stop smoking, so they said
it themselves that it would not affect their sales. Even at that, you pay us N1
as tax and we have to spend N20 in treating people that are affected by the
habit, it is not good enough. How do you now quantify the human loss and people
that fall ill over the habit?
Most times, when you discuss issues
on the assembly, you do so with facts; do you do researches before coming to
the chamber?
Yes, like today, I wanted to talk
about sexual abuse, but I was not called upon, we are lawmakers and
representatives of the people and our discuss must be based on facts, not
opinion. Most people may not do it, I can tell you that the United Nations said
that about 1.1 Billion people smoke in the world today and that by 2025, they
would be 1.6 Billion, I can tell you that 50% of people that smoke are liable
to be affected by smoking. Don’t forget that we have members on the floor that
are rich in knowledge and some are experienced in certain areas and you don’t
want to be rubbished, so if you don’t know your onions and you don’t worth your
salt, you will be rubbished. The issues here are two different things, we are talking
of Smoking Law, it is not Tobacco Law, and we will still have Tobacco Law. If
you put your cigarette on the table and you don’t light it, it is not going to
hurt anybody, so while we are talking of this, the National Assembly is talking
about making law on goods including tobacco. Look at the Tobacco Law the
National Assembly is working on since 2006 or 2007, it is still there, and they
have not passed it. I will rather take the shortest route than waiting for the
Federal Government. If eventually they pass the Tobacco Law, it can subsume our
Smoking Law.
Some of the indulgence could be a
fall out of the economic problems in the country, I mean habits like smoking,
drinking and other acts, don’t you think there is a wide gap between the
leaders and the led?
I appreciate what you are saying,
but I won’t agree with you totally because even abroad, where they have
everything, there are more smokers there than here. The records are there, I
told you 1.1 Billion people now, which means one in nine people in the world
smoke, what is the percentage of Nigerians there, if you take the world
population and we give about 60% to children, it means one in every four adults
smoke and that does not apply here. Here, women don’t smoke much; we don’t have
information to tie smoking to poverty. Another way you look at it is that
smoking is expensive like a research showed that an individual spends as much
as 1,000 pounds sterling on smoking in a year in the United Kingdom, which is
about N250,000. So, smoking is not cheap at all.
What have been the high points of
your being here and the challenges of your office?
For me, it has been fun, we have
been able to represent our people and give them a voice, I am happy everybody
knows who I am now, I have been to carve a niche for myself, sometimes, they
call me minority leader, that is the way they feel, I don’t grudge them, at
least I am not doing it in another party, I am still in my party.
What has been your relationship with
your constituents?
You can’t blame constituents, you
will not be fair if you think they are doing something different from what your
extended family members do, look at the extended families we come from, your
uncle would bring his child, your sister will come, everybody comes, you don’t
need to be in politics to do this, you just need to be richer than the people
in your family, the requests will come. Don’t portray it as if it is peculiar
to Nigerian. I remember those days, when your brother is a manager in a company
and everybody would say I want to go and meet my brother, and demand from him
as if the money belongs to us together. It can be a bit stressful, I find it
frustrating sometimes because I love to give and if I can’t give, I feel bad, I
am not happy if I can’t solve people’s problems, but my succour is that I keep
doing it.
Elections are coming and we have
seen politicking going on everywhere, people leaving parties, may be moving
from PDP to APC and vice versa, what is your opinion on this?
On cross carpeting, we see that
every four years, we see more of it in APC now because we are a new bigger
party, some people came with ulterior motive and if they don’t get what they
want, they would go back, and at a point in time, it would settle down, for us,
it is a teething problem that comes during election time. Some say they
are people of different ideologies coming together, I don’t think it is like
that, I think, we are a party with our own rules and regulations and when you
come in, you drop your toga and obey our manifestoes, and if you can’t, you go,
but the more the merrier.
Do you think it is worth it for
Nigeria to celebrate 100 years of the country at this time?
I have said it, we should mark it,
it is a period of sober reflection, but to celebrate it, I am not comfortable
with that. Yes, as Nigerians, we are glad that within the mismanagement of our
resources, we have been able to survive, yes we are glad, but amidst plenty, we
are being short-changed by the government. We are glad that we are able to go
to school with the strenuous conditions, but for the Federal Government to say
they are celebrating, what are they celebrating, they should bury their heads
in shame, we should be the one celebrating that we are able to survive the
rough terrain in the country, we are in a country where the Federal Government
does not allow the rule of law to operate, we should be the one that should
give ourselves a pass mark. We want to waste money that should be spent on
health, power and education on frivolities. We should think rather than talking
about Vision 2020, 2025, 2050 and all that. We should be able to tell them the
truth and make this nation better.
What is your plan as we go for
another election, are you coming back here?
Though you people flatter me that I
have learned fast, that it is surprising that I am able to push in a private
member Bill and all that, I still feel I am still learning, after that, I can
make use of the knowledge for a stronger and articulate my views more. But, it
doesn’t lie with me, it all depends on the party, if our great party and
leaders believe there are some other things I could do, so be it.
Were you actually encouraged to come
here or you decided on your own to be here?
I made up my mind to be here because
I know that the legislature can make a change in the country, the laws we made
are being implemented by the executive and interpreted by the judiciary,
we make laws for the people. Legislature is the essence of democracy, under
military rule, it is only the legislature that is absent, the Supreme Military
Council is the executive, the judiciary is there, but the legislature is not
there, so the legislature is the right place to be, we are working with the
executive and we have discussions to give the people the best. We have to work
together to move the country forward.
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