One thing that has
become worrisome to the lawmaker representing Apapa Constituency 1 in the Lagos
State House of Assembly, Hon. Mufutau Egberongbe is the activities of tanker drivers
and fuel depots in the area.
He has been calling for
the relocation of these tankers, which he said have become a threat to lives in
Apapa as well the relocation of the numerous tank farms that adorn the area.
In an interview he
granted us recently on his stewardship in the House, Hon. Egberongbe added that
he has been able to bring succour to many people in the area, especially in the
area of security, influencing provision of amenities from the state government
to the area and empowering the people of the highly industrialised area.
The seasoned lawmaker
also revealed that it is not possible for him to talk about where he is going
as another election approaches as he insisted that everything is in the hands
of the leaders of his party; the All Progressives Congress (APC).
You have been in the
House for sometime now, what have been the highpoints of representing the
people of Apapa 1, a highly industrialized area?
Apapa Constituency 1,
which I represent, is a combination of the highbrow people, who stay in Apapa
GRA, and those at the lower rung of the ladder, who are living in Ijora area.
My constituents include the likes of Senator Muniru Muse, Mrs. Kuforiji Olubi,
it houses the Nigerian Ports Authority, Tin Can Island Port, by the time you
look at these, and with the people in Ijora Oloye, Ijora Eledu, you can
see that it is a mixture of the high and the low. Their yearnings and
aspirations are different; in the GRA, you find that their needs include
security, of course electricity is a general problem, you have the issue of gas
emission from tanker drivers, farm tanks, the economic activities in the ports,
and all these have devastating effects on infrastructure in Apapa. The major
challenge has been the issue of security of lives and properties, residential
areas have been turned to commercial areas and the emission from the tank
farms, indiscriminate parking of tankers are some of the challenges we face in
the area. In Ijora Oloye axis, you find the issue of the drainage that have
been blocked, environmental nuisance, you find people of Kwara doing one trade
or the other and some of them do not have electricity to work with. Of course,
Oba Fatai Aromire, the Ojora of Ijora has been so helpful and the adjoining
festivities in the area, the Oro, Elegba Festivals come to mind here, they
become notable in the area.
In what ways have you
been able to solve their problems, especially on the issue of the trailers that
park on the roads?
The major challenge,
even to the highbrow and the downtrodden is the indiscriminate parking of
trailers by tanker drivers on the roads and the issue of tank farms. Like I
have said severally, I have made representation to the Ministry of the
Environment. When Dr. Muiz Banire was the Commissioner for the Environment, I
made representation to him; he had been there severally to see things for
himself. Around 2009, I took some media men there and they recorded the
activities with their video recorders, we realized that we could only touch
their minds through advocacy. They need to relocate these tankers; they cannot
be in a residential area like Apapa. If any of these tankers catches fire, the
causality is always worrisome, there would be loss of lives and properties just
like the one that happened recently at Berger Bus-Stop in Apapa, the trailer
fell down and caught fire, it consumed the trailer, killed 23 people and
destroyed properties. If a trailer catches fire and such destruction could
happen, what do you think would be the case if a tank farm catches fire. Apart
from this, the tanker drivers park in chains and I can tell you if one catches
fire, the rest would be affected and the whole of Apapa would be consumed. We
are sitting on a time bomb, I am using this medium to make a renewed call on
the Federal Government that the primary responsibility of a government is the
protection of lives and properties and any life that goes would never come
back. It is very good to be proactive in our governance, we all can see what
this portends; let us do what is right at the right time. Let the tankers park
in another area; may be on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, they can come in tens, when
a batch goes, another ten would come, and that would be more like it. Another
one can be to relocate the tank farms from Apapa and even rejuvenate the rail
system, I was born in Apapa and went to Apapa Primary School, as a young boy,
we saw trains being used to transport goods from Apapa Port and train were used
to even carry cows, so why are we going back. Trains can carry tons of loads,
with this, we will not disturb other road users, it is cheaper, safer and
economical. Children of nowadays see train as a big deal, which was no big deal
to us then. We used to go and meet my brother, who was schooling in Osogbo in
Osun State at Iddo Terminus as he used to travel by train. Let us go back to
this.
In all of these, what
have you been able to achieve for your people?
I repaired the police
station there and they even named a centre in the station after me, I procured
motorcycle and walkie talkie for the policemen there. The Inspector General of
Police then, Hafiz Ringim even recognized my work. Apapa, being a low level
area, is prone to flood, I have assisted the CDAs to confront this problem, I
have organized annual poverty alleviation programme for my constituents, I did
one on October 9, 2013. I organize football competition and table tennis
competition for my people.
How close are you to
your people to solve their problems?
I have a constituency
office there, I have my constituency office there, I go there on Wednesdays and
Fridays, when I am not busy in the assembly. Most of the problems they bring to
me are very personal and I cannot solve some of them due to shortage of funds
and some come to me for intellectual discussions. I initiated Apapa Security
Trust Fund, that fund too was a result of a talk shop I organized years back,
and we discussed the precarious security problem in Apapa, there, we thought of
how to solve the problems and we agreed that we could generate employment by
engaging the companies to help our youths, and that instead of procuring arms
for the police, we could make use of social mechanism by engaging the youths,
so football and all sorts of sports are used to take the youth away from crimes
and the companies were all around to be part of this. The Security Trust Fund
took off with the assistance of the local government chairman and Governor
Babatunde Raji Fashola also gave us N500,000 as his own contribution to the
project. I want to use this medium to commend the Secretary of the Fund, Mr.
Mike Egbayilo for doing a very good job. He has been the secretary of Apapa GRA
Residential Association before. He has been collaborating on the project with
the Apapa Local Government. Another person is the Ojora of Ijora, Oba Fatai
Aromire, he is one Oba that has the interest of the community at heart, he
would call me from time to time on issues.
You have been here since
2003, do you have any regret and have your expectations been met?
Legislative activities
are continuous and it is a relatively new one in our body polity. In Nigeria,
we have had years of military rule and during those period, the executive would
be there, the judiciary would be there and the only one that would be truncated
is the legislature, so that is why I say it is relatively new. The activities
of the legislature are done by convention. Here, we have been exposed to
trainings in Nigeria and abroad, the Speaker of the House, Rt. (Hon.) Adeyemi
Ikuforiji has taken lawmaking to another level, not just in Lagos State, but in
Nigeria as a whole, but there are still more grounds to be covered.
What is your philosophy
as a politician because people have attributed corruption and lots of things to
politicians?
Prior to my emergence as
a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, I had been a community man, a
member of the Community Development Association in Apapa, I was the Secretary
of Kofo Abayomi Development Association, I was the secretary of the CDC in the
area, which comprises all the CDAs in Apapa Local Government Area and when you
talk of community activities, they are selfless services. This has imbibed in
me service to the people and it has been with me before coming to the House and
I have been toeing that line. The concept of governance is about service and if
you fail to do that, the negative of such would soon come to you. No matter the
enormity of funds you are able to garner, if there is no electricity in your
area, you will continue to burn diesel, when you put on your generating set, if
there is no security, you get private security, if there is no water, you dig
your own borehole and by the time everybody dig borehole, it would have impact
on the environment, we are postponing the evil day as this could lead to
earthquake. We should emulate the lofty ideals of our leader, Asiwaju Bola
Ahmed Tinubu, prior to his involvement in politics, this man had been
successful, he was a treasurer with Mobil Producing and he was even successful
abroad, he could just sit back with his money with his wife and children, but
of what use is the money if everybody around him is poor. So, he decided to
join politics to help people.
Who are your godfathers
in politics and what is your plan for 2015 as election is approaching?
My godfathers in
politics are those who have been mentoring me, I do not see anything wrong in
godfatherism in politics if it means mentoring you aright, challenging you to
do what is good. I have so many of them. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is my
mentor; I say a big thank you to him for the opportunity he gave me to serve.
My coming back is based on the ideology and structure of the party, there are
people in the party, who keep records of your activities, so, they are the ones
to tell me where to go. It is inappropriate for me to say this is my next line of
action, when the party has structure on how to go about it. You are given
responsibility as at when due and you could be withdrawn from one
responsibility to another. So you don’t delegate authority to yourself.
How would you like to be
remembered?
I would want to be
remembered as someone that came and do my own thing in my own little way, being
myself with a view to having an egalitarian society, where everybody is equal,
where we have equal opportunity, justice, where there is no line of demarcation
between the poor and the rich and where everybody has access to good things of
life. Having at the back of my mind that no matter how long we stay here, we
will leave this place one day and meet our God and you don’t even know, when
you will be leaving, you can be called God at any time to answer to the call of
nature, so of what use are those things you have amassed, things happen
everyday and all those that have gone, we are not better than them, so we
should use our days to better the lives of others.
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