Talebearers

I Once Sold Wrist Watches In Oshodi To Survive

-Lagos Lawmaker, Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa

His session with member of the Lagos State House of Assembly Correspondents Association (LAHACA) at their weekly ‘Time Out With The Press,’ was indeed interesting.

The lawmaker representing Agege Constituency 1 in the House, who doubles as the Chairman, House Committee on Economic Planning and Budget, Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, made it clear that there is dignity in labour. He revealed that he once joined a friend to sell wrist watches in Oshodi, Lagos all in a bid to keep body and soul together as a young man, adding that he did many things to survive in those days.

He later joined politics and became a councilor in Agege Local Government in 1999, but by 2003, he had moved to the Lagos State House of Assembly.

Hon. Obasa has since become a ranking member of the House and he speaks on his committee, his growing up years and issues affecting the state and the House at the session.

Can you tell us about yourself

My name is Obasa Mudashiru Ajayi, I was born on November 11, 1972 in Mushin, Lagos. I grew up in Agege, Lagos and started my primary school at State High School, Oyewole, Agege, I attended Saka Tinubu Secondary School, Orile Agege before I left for Bishop Aggrey Memorial Secondary School, Ilasamaja, Mushin, where I passed out with O’Level Certificate. I later went to Lagos State University (LASU) to read law, I then proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos, but I have not started going to court. I started politics some years ago, which I cannot even recall, this was when I was young. My father used to talk about issues relating to politics and he had so much love for the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. I want to say it was from there that I started showing interest in politics.

By early 90s during the SDP/NRC days, I contested as a delegate under SDP for our local government. In 1999, when the new dispensation started, I contested for the post of councillorship under the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Agege Local Government, when we had only 20 local governments, and I won.

In 2003, I contested for a seat in the Lagos State House of Assembly under the AD and since then I have been part of this House.

It was alleged that the president chose 200 out of 492 members of the National Conference, in view of this, do you see the confab as a positive step?

My own position is the same with that of our party, APC, which does not support the conference for two major reasons; one, the timing and secondly the body language of President Goodluck Jonathan. We are already in March and 2015 elections are fast approaching, we will have elections in February, 2015 and Jonathan cannot deny the fact that he has interest to re-contest in 2015. If that is true, we strongly oppose the conference, which is coming at this late hour. If the conference had been organized, when he was about two years in office, may be we would have seen reason in participating. But, timing is something we have problem with, which is why we are not in support of it. There is no way you would orgainse this kind of programme now, when you want to contest in the coming election and stay away from influencing the decision of the delegates.

The position of our party is also my own position. If we have 492 delegates and the president nominated 200, then what are we talking about, which means you chose those who would decide the fate of the nation. There is no way this would not affect all political interests. Also, the PDP, which is the party of the president, has substantial members considering the number of states the PDP is controlling and they all have delegates at the conference. So, they have more delegates than other parties.

The conference would be influenced by the president, and we believe that no meaningful decision would come out of it.

It has been said that they cannot discuss certain things at the conference, so why did you organize the conference in the first instance. You cannot discuss the unity of the country there, for instance, the major issue in the country is about our unity, the Yoruba, Hausa, Ibo and others, we should talk about our coming together, about our sharing formula, which has to do with the kind of federal system that we practice. We practice federalism in form of unitary government and this we have questioned severally. So, we say if we want to discuss at the conference, everything has to be put on the table and everybody, who is going to the conference would have right to raise issues and ask questions and also discuss everything that has to do with our coming together as a nation. Based on this, we do not believe in the conference and we do not expect something meaningful to come out of it.

We will like to know more about the duties of the House Committee on Economic Planning and Budget, which is under you, and we will also like to know how juicy it is

As Chairman, House Committee on Economic Planning and Budget, I would say our duty mostly has to do with the budget of the state and the budget is an annual thing, how to keep tab on the MDAs to see how they would comply with the budget law without going beyond what was approved in the budget. That is why we carry out quarterly appraisal of the budget, where the MDAs appear before the committee to discuss their activities and how they have performed so far. Largely, budget has to do with the revenue; it depends on how much revenue you can generate and this has to do with proposal of what the government plans to do in a given year. Without revenue, either allocation or Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), it would be difficult to achieve what we have in the proposal. So that is what we do to ensure that the proposal is realistic, when we are treating the budget through budget defense, and when we have discussions with the MDAs.

On the issue of being juicy, that is not part of what we do. When I started in 2003, I was the Chairman, House Committee on Rural Development, in 2007, I was Chairman, Public Accounts Committee (Local), now I am in-charge of Economic Planning and Budget. I see all the committees as the same; we are only given responsibilities to handle. Also, the Chairman is not the only member of the committee, we have other members and you have to work together with them to carry out the responsibilities the House gave you. As the Chairman of the committee, you don’t really have a say on the decision of the committee. You still have to come back to the House to defend your reports, if the whole House likes, they would agree or else, they can reject your reports. So, you don’t have total say on the functions of the committee.

We heard that some posters sprang up in Agege indicating that someone in Agege has interest in becoming the Speaker of the House in 2015. We will like to hear from you if you plan to be Speaker of the House in 2015

The correspondents of PM News in the House sent me an SMS on the issue after the posters emerged in Agege and I told him that with my years in the House of Assembly, I am matured enough to understand that speakers are not elected or selected on the road or in the local government, it is the responsibility of the leaders of the party and members of the House to decide who would be the speaker of the assembly. Also, I think there are still many hurdles to be crossed such as the primary elections, and the general elections, so if we are still in March, 2014 and somebody is talking about being speaker, that person cannot claim to be a member of this House of Assembly. It is not out of place to nurse an ambition or have interest in any position. But, I wish to tell you through this medium that I have no knowledge of the poster and I don’t know those behind it. On if I wish to become the speaker or not, the party leaders would decide and members of the house of assembly would decide, when the time comes.

About three or four years ago, the House took a decision on budget re-ordering as they said they would not entertain it again, but last year, there was budget re-ordering. So, we will like to know if your budget defense is a mere formality and if it is not, I think the issue of budget re-ordering should no longer be entertained

We should know that budget is a mere proposal based on data and information available to the executive at a point, which means it is not stable. It is not permanent; a lot of factors are responsible for the proposal nationally and internationally. As we are all aware, we have a monolithic economic system in the country. The international market where the price of oil is being determined should be considered. If we now propose that at the end of the day, a barrel of oil would be sold for 75 dollars and something happens, which affects the figure, it is certain that it will affect the plans we have in the country and since the Federal Government is responsible for the allocation to the states, it would affect it. Also, talking about IGR, which is also a projection, we might have planned to generate N1 Billion and since revenue has not been coming from the federal government, it will affect our budget. So, what we have to do in order to achieve most of the projects that we intend to carry out is to come back to the House to address the budget, which is referred to as re-ordering. If after passing the budget, the executive feels that most of what they intend to do in the Ministry of the Environment, for instance, are no longer urgent like what we need to do in the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), we will remove most of what we have approved for the Environment Ministry for WAPA to carry out the projects for the people of the state. It is a request from the executive and we go through these to see if they should be granted or not. Most of the time, we discovered that the requests are made in the interest of our people knowing that we are representing the people and we have to do what will help our state and the people. 

When, the Federal Government makes budget, we see figures providing fuel for generators and all that and these are discussed in the National Assembly. Coming to Lagos State, we don’t get to see some of these breakdowns, is it that the Governor is too smart for the House or the House overlooks such areas.

Also, there was a time the governor said that LASTMA is not a revenue generating agency, but in the 2014 budget, it was stated that LASTMA should generate N500 Million, what do you have to say to that?

Still on the figure presented by the state, it still has to do with what the executive presents, after presenting them, we now invite the MDAs. Apart from the Economic Planning and Budget Committee, we have sub-committees of the House, which will also question the proposals of the MDAs. They will also come with reports to my committee and we will meet with the MDAs. If there is no reason for us to change what they request, we will not change it. We have actually rejected some proposals before only that we don’t make noise with them, last year Ibile Holdings was given N1 Billion, we sent it back because we were not convinced. About five or seven MDAs were also questioned openly during the last budget exercise, so these are the things we do. We must ensure that we do not rock the boat or create fears. It is not that the Governor is smart, and even the Governor is smart, which is  why he is the Governor of Lagos, but I can tell you we also have smart people in the Lagos State House of Assembly. We have monitors for budget breakdowns, the MDAs have monitors for their proposals, even, our budget defense session is open to anybody to observe, we have never sent anybody out not to be part of it. The question on diesel and others are stated, but we remove some in this year’s budget since we have PPP, so they don’t need generators any longer.

LASTMA is not a revenue generating agency, it is an agency that should instill discipline in our people, but some people have to be sanctioned to pass the message across, which is where the issue of fine comes in. they are not meant to generate revenue, but some people have to pay fines after committing traffic offence. So, we monitor some of them to make them work, if LASTMA generates N3 Billion or N4 Billion, you need to give them a push to generate more.  Also, it is all about traffic, the number of vehicles that come to Lagos increases every year and LASTMA also carries out some duties, which motorists pay for.

As the Chairman of House Committee on Economic Planning and Budget, are you comfortable with the fact that the debt profile of Lagos State is about N437 Billion?

We should look at some other factors in talking about our debt profile; you consider the revenue capability of Lagos State in a month. We generate N20 Billion in a month, so if we multiply this by 12, you will see that we can pay the debt back in two years. The question now should be that what did we use the debt for, if they are visible, yes, and if they are not, we can now talk about the fiscal responsibility. So, what is our capability to pay back, Lagos is buoyant and our government is very responsible, when it comes to fiscal responsibility.

One the of recommendations of the House to the committee is that the allocation of some MDAs should be increased, we want to know how far the committee has gone on that, then the other question is about the breakdown of the budget, not necessarily about buying diesels

On breakdown of the budget of the MDAs, we have monitors, which is where we know information about the budget estimates. If we are not satisfied, we can then call the affected ministry. So far, we don’t have any reason to doubt any ministry, the monitors have been very helpful. We listed some MDAs, whose allocations should be increased, we have about six of them and we have invited them with the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget and talk to them on the increase. We are still going to do that.

We have observed that budget defense is not transparent because the press has never been invited to the defense, what is the cause of this?

The budget defense session is an open one, though we have not extended invitation to the press. I didn’t know we should invite you, but we will invite you next time. That we don’t invite the press does not mean we are not transparent, if the budget defense is not done in the open; the presentation of the report is done on the floor of the House. Whatever we agreed upon at the budget defense is brought to the whole House through the reports.

The Governor was here recently to talk about dwindling in federal allocation to the state, we will want to know if he is talking about re-ordering. We will also want to know the challenges of being the Chairman of the committee

If you were there, when the commissioner came to brief us on the dwindling federal allocation to the state, we asked question that the complaint came late since it started in 2013, but we thank the Governor for deeming it fit to inform the House and carry us along in the activities of the state. We cannot rule out possibility of re-ordering the budget since we are not realizing the expected revenue from the Federal Government. It will not be out of place if the executive asks for budget re-ordering, we will gladly do it if we believe there is a tangible reason for that.

The committee has lots of challenges mainly because, when you look at the composition of the committee, you expect people with financial background to take charge of the committee. But when we go for elections, such requirements are not made, so most times, we go to see qualified economists and all that, so we have to consult professionals sometimes for our work. We go to them to get information, we have budget office of the state that we consult to work with the House on financial issues, these are some of the challenges. Some of the MDAs too don’t respond in time, when we need them or they don’t have the required documents, and we have to wait for them. We had to mention some MDAs openly during the last budget presentation.

There is this street in your constituency called, Alfa Nla that has been under construction for about four years and it is yet to be completed, what is the reason for this. Still on LASTMA, don’t you think giving them target would make them become overzealous?

I agree with you that Alfa Nla/Capitol Road Canal project has been delayed for long. But, the project ought to have been handled by the World Bank, but the condition they gave was difficult for us to take, which was why the state took over the project. When you have such a project with a huge figure, the contractor is a major factor. So, since the state cannot pay for the project at once, you cannot tell the contractor to complete it at once. The place is in the heart of my constituency, I used to call it an abandoned project, when I see the Governor, but he said it is not, that it is an on-going project. So, the delay has to do with fund. The project is at the completion stage, they are now clearing the road that was blocked before.

Also, I still want to state that LASTMA is not about revenue, but because there is a law that must be observed and those that violate it must be punished, fines have to be paid. When they pay, the money goes to the coffers of the state government, and to ensure there is no leakage, we have to continue to push them. You call it target, I call it responsibility. When somebody is fined, and that person pays, it has to go to the coffers of the state government, and when they keep paying, there is a need for us to project that it has to increase, but it is not purely about revenue generation.

I have been in this House of Assembly since 2003, we have not passed any budget because of bribe from the government or anybody. I see the state Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze about twice or three times in a year. I have not been to his ministry as the chairman of this committee. So there is no reason for me to go to him to ask for money not to talk of going to meet members of the sub-committees of the House. Most the sub-committees members are new, and the kind of respect they give me as a ranking member is high, how can I then ask them for money. So, when it comes to money, you can always vouch for this House. That does not mean we don’t have our short-comings, but not about money, especially, when it comes to requests from the members of the executive. It has never happened.

Prior to the passage of the budget, you said some MDAs did not furnish your committee with documents, but we heard that it was because they refuse to give you money that you did not attend to them. Also, when you were talking about your growing up years, we expected you to talk about what someone close to you said about you. He said that you used to be a hustler during your growing up years and that you once sold wrist watches, how true is this?

The person that said I sold wrist watches is not far from the truth, talking about detailed background of my youthful days, I grew up in Papa Ashafa area of Agege, and while there, there was hardly anything I did not do apart from engaging in armed robbery, probably I was too young for that. Talking about doing one activity or the other, there is nothing people do to make money that I did not do. However, I did them out of my own volition, not because my father could not send me to school, but close friends of mine were always in one engagement or the other. We would go to Agege Market to sell nylon bags, then we sold nylon bags in dozens, we did bus conductor, labourer work, just mention it. We had enough transporters on our streets then.   I worked with a company in early 90s as a contract staff in Dolphin, Ikoyi, Lagos. Then, I had school certificate, later I met a Frenchman, who became a friend, they sold gift items. I would get the items and sold to companies. I later left the work, when I tried to go abroad, but it didn’t work out and I tried to go back to my former place of work, but it was not possible. I had a friend, Wasiu Sanni, who sold wrist watches in Oshodi area of Lagos then. I was just at home and I felt like working with my friend, who was selling wrist watches in Oshodi, so I joined him. For me, I don’t believe in staying idle, so when people approach me for assistance, I encourage them to work. So, if your father is not Aliko Dangote, you have to find something to do to cross to another level in life.

What have been your impacts on the people of your constituency as a lawmaker?

This administration has been very nice to Agege as a whole in the area of road construction, we have never had it so good and there are still more going on. We are doing well in my constituency, they are still asking for more really.

On my own part, I have done a lot within my little resources, we distribute GCE forms annually, we do empowerment programmes, recently, I did free medical check-up for people, we recorded about 3,000 beneficiaries, we did eye screening and we are giving out free eye glasses soon.

What efforts are you making to ensure that the issue of insecurity in Nigeria does not extend to Agege as we heard that the place is very porous since you have many Hausas there, and we will like to know your plans for 2015?

Agege is very peaceful, I have lived the whole of my life in Agege and I still live there. We have Hausa, Ebira people, Ibos and others there and we are so much integrated that we cannot fight one another. You see a Hausaman speaking Yoruba, the issue of Boko Haram is not a threat in my community.

On my plans for 2015, our party has a way of doing it, you cannot decide for yourself, though you can declare your interest in a particular position. There is likelihood that I will still come back into the assembly in 2015.