“My going into the National Assembly is also to assist the government, both at the federal and state levels and to do what my people want…”
Hon. Tunji Akinosi, a former commissioner for forestry in Ogun State, who is contesting for a seat in the Federal House of Representatives from Ado-Odo/Ota Federal Constituency under the All Progressives Congress (APC), has disclosed that the ambition he has had over the years on the rapid physical and human development of his constituency is the key factor fuelling his burning desire to ultimately represent and selflessly serve his people in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
He said he is set for a productive representation that would transform the entire federal constituency if elected to represent his people as a member of the Federal House of Representatives.
Akinosi who has also served as the chairman of his local government – Ado-Odo/Otta, with a sterling performance, opened up on this and other salient issues that concern his constituency in an interview with the New Telegraph newspaper.
He said his constituency, being one of the largest concentrations of industries in the country, has not had the feel of federal presence owing to the fact that the majority of the roads are within the duty scope of the federal government. “The representation that we have had between 2015 and now is not the one that we have been happy about, though the present representative has done what he could do.”
Akinosi who further disclosed his mission should he be elected as a federal lawmaker said; “My going into the National Assembly is also to assist the government, both at the federal and state levels and to do what my people want. The people cannot differentiate between the two. We will work to ensure that the state government gets the money they have spent on federal roads in the state back and that would enable us to be able to assist our people and do more roads.
He pledged to ensure that all federal roads, which have over the years impeded the development of the constituency, are fixed. “One thing that should be brought to bear on the people, which we have not seen, is we have a federal constituency where we have almost 80% of the roads being federal and we need the attention of the Federal Government more here and I think that we will get that done more in lawmaking than in the executive. That is why I decided to go for lawmaking.”
Also speaking on the major challenges of the constituency being the major industrial hub in Ogun State and one of the most concentrated industrial areas in Nigeria, Akinosi pointed out the roles of companies in community human and physical development as connected to Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR).
The House of Reps hopeful said; “There should be laws formulated for things like that so that we can insist on it. If you say that CSR should be done, a company has the right to say that this is what they want to do as their CSR.
“In terms of employment, localising employment and employable individuals that have gone to school within the community where they are situated is also part of the laws that needed to be looked into. If you have people from Ado-Odo/Ota that have gone to school and who have the requisite qualifications to go into companies and the companies say they want to bring expatriates or people from their own country, do we have laws that say we can insist on what should be done in our area?”
On the chances of Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo winning his rerun bid, Akinosi, who is widely addressed as ‘Ire wititi,’ noted that the few people who have negative views about the present administration in the state have not put into consideration the 18-month loss due to Covid-19 lockdown and the nationwide #EndSARS protest which grounded, not just Ogun State economy but the entire country. He added that most of the criticisms against governor Abiodun were politically motivated.
“Unfortunately, when people say there are lots of criticisms against the government of Prince Dapo Abiodun, I am an individual that likes to critique things objectively, if we are saying that he has not done well in the last four years, what are you measuring his performance with, is it the eight years of former governor Ibikunle Amosun or the eight years of former governor Gbenga Daniel?
“For every citizen of this state, it is only someone who is not part of us here that did not see what happened between 2011 and 2019 that would say Governor Dapo Abiodun has not done very well taking into consideration that we have more than a year of lockdown over Coronavirus. We had about six months of shutdown over #EndSARS and other crises that happened. Technically, we lost about 18 months from about 43 months that he has spent.”
He also pointed at piles of unfinished ‘elephant projects’ across the state that were left by Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led government.
“Take Ado-Odo/Ota Federal Constituency for example, the road that links us with Lagos was part of the roads that Abiodun did when he came in. The Sango-Ijoko-Alagbole Road was said to have almost been completed by the former government, but nothing was done there. It was this same government that started doing a lane and payment must have been made for jobs not done by the past government. Take our internal road in Ota as another example, it is this government that has been going about repairing them.
“Take the Atan-Agbara Road as another one, from 2011 to 2019, not a block was laid there. That road is now seeing the effect of the government. Take the Ado-Odo/Ikoga Road, it is still under construction, but nothing was done there before. Take the Ilaro- Owode Road, it is about 95% completed now by this same administration. Take the Owode-Ado-Odo Road, it’s under construction by this same administration.
“Those things were not done by the last administration. In the last administration, it was as if Ogun West was not part of this state. Some of these things he did in less than 40 months he had to work. Don’t forget that all allocations from 2019 to date from the federal government have dwindled. Governor Dapo Abiodun has been bringing up new ideas, and new industries. You can see that Forbes Magazine recently gave him an award as the Best Governor on Industrial Revolution.
“If you have people that are criticising him, they are doing so based on politics. Look at the roads that are being opened in Ijebu; Ijebu-Ode/ Epe Road, go there and see companies springing up. Look at Ago-Iwoye Road which had been left undone, it was not touched by the past administrations. Look at our flagship road that was constructed by former governor Gbenga Daniel, look at the repairs that have come to it. It is now making Abeokuta a befitting capital. There are times we need to talk about issues and not politics.”
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Akinosi who further spoke about the state of the nation’s economy and insecurity explained that the situation is not peculiar to Nigeria adding that it is a global challenge which all the leaders of the world are currently battling with.
“Economy and other things are not peculiar to Nigeria, they affect the whole world. Very soon, teachers in the United Kingdom would be going on strike, and the price of fuel has gone up in every part of Europe and in the United States of America. The US is going into recession, and the UK too is in recession.
“Is it President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC government that are governing those countries? It is a problem of the world and for people in the press to educate our nation is a problem that we have. We have not been told that fuel in Nigeria is the cheapest in the world. Fuel is much more expensive in the UK and in the US. In the last eight months, three Prime Ministers resigned in the UK as they said that they could not solve the economic problems there. We have heard that in the UK they are giving money to people. Many of these things happen everywhere, malls and small-scale industries are being given money to keep them afloat. Insecurity is not a Nigerian problem alone,” he said.
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Akinosi who also spoke on the performances of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, hailed the APC-led government at the federal and state levels for putting the electoral umpires in the right frame of transparency.
“The APC Government made INEC to be better than it used to be under the past governments. INEC is seen to be open and the APC-led government has conducted free and fair elections. Our charge is for the INEC not to rest on their laurels and do what they need to do right so that the elections would come and go and we would be seen as conducting an election that would not be criticised by many people,” he said.
