Hon. Femi Saheed, who represents Kosofe Constituency II in the Lagos State House of Assembly, has said that he remains committed to delivering quality representation to his constituents. Saheed, who is seeking a second term in office, noted that he has served his people to the best of his ability. In this interview with OLADIPUPO AWOJOBI, Hon. Saheed also spoke on key issues affecting his constituency. Excerpts:
]What has been your experience as a lawmaker?
I got to realise and found out on the job that lawmaking or representing your people is a call from God, it is a call to serve humanity and you won’t even have time for yourself. You would be denied of those things that give you pleasure. But when you put in your best, and people appreciate you, you would be satisfied.
When I came on board, I came with the spirit and passion to change lawmaking and improve the lives of my people. I also wanted to use oversight functions to change the stories in terms of our finance, budget and project execution.
I thank God Almighty that my voice in the Lagos State House of Assembly for the past four years has been a resounding one that provided views that shaped so many laws such as the Anti-Grazing Law, Lagos State University of Medicine and Technology, the Emefiele saga when it came up and others. You can find this on my website and Facebook. I spoke before the National Assembly on some issues and they became reality. I have attracted so many legacy projects to my constituency.
You can see my street, it looks as if you are in London. Within this short period of time, I have facilitated the construction of 12 roads in the constituency. I brought 1,200 capacity stadium, FIFA standard, to the area; it’s a function of lobbying your people. The state government said that they wanted to do about six stadia and Kosofe benefitted from it.
We should count ourselves as lucky. Also, go to Odo Ogun, the school there had been moved away due to bad structure, but when I got to office, the school was rebuilt and it became one of the best schools in Lagos State and the students can learn under a conducive atmosphere. I have been able to commute more than 650,000 students on a daily basis with busses. The busses would move from its location to Ajegunle and Maryland and bring them back home later.
Moreso, I have facilitated gigantic projects into the area. I made the people to know that Agboyi has the same history with Lagos Island, Erekusu Eko, because the only difference between Lagos Island and Agboyi is because Lagos has a bridge and we had no bridge. It was debated on the floor and the bridge has now been done.
When I came on board, Ketu/Alapere/Demurin Road had been abandoned for many years, it was a terrible thing and an eyesore. But I used the power of being in the Finance Committee to make sure that the project was in the budget and it was completed in due course and delivered. If you go to OPIC Isheri Estate, their problem was potable water, but through the help of God Almighty, I facilitated water scheme to the area. I have also given about 1,000 JAMB Forms to the students in the area.
I have given scholarship awards to students and one of our students was the best law student in the Lagos State University. I also gave bursaries, and I gave furniture to schools. I can continue to count those things that I have done. I listened to my people and did many things for them. I floated Hon. Femi Saheed Medical Initiative, I floated Hon Femi Saheed Food Palliative two years back, apart from the students shuttle busses that are free. Also, in Ketu area, when their houses were being demolished, I stopped the demolition.
Part of Mile 12 was demolished, but I stopped it. I have helped several graduates to get jobs in the various ministries and agencies in the state. I key into the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and I also helped the projects of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to get to the people. But when you are doing your best and someone from somewhere that does not know the people wants to take over, we will resist it.
We want to tell the party that we are ready for primaries. The party should ensure that the imposition of a neophyte, someone who does not believe in the pains of the people is not allowed.
There have been security and economic issues in Nigeria and the APC is at the centre; don’t you think these issues will affect your party in the 2027 general elections?
When President Bola Tinubu came on board, it was difficult for states and even the Federal Government to get allocations. We even heard that about 26 states were not able to pay workers salaries, but what do we have now, it is economic revolution and restructuring.
Now the whole world is experiencing scarcity of fuel, but because of the policy of the APC government to encourage a local refinery, now you have Dangote Refinery.
When this government came on board, our foreign reserve was about $2.3billion, as I am talking to you, we have over $45 billion as foreign reserve and infrastructure is going on all over Nigeria. That is to tell you that this government is working and we should know that there is no gain without pain. The most difficult thing in this world is economic revolution, political revolution is not a big deal, you can do it and still align.
In an economic revolution, you will have something like removal of subsidy, and floating of the naira. We have progressive policies such as student loan called NELFUND, provision of infrastructure, establishment of more schools and the stabilisation of naira is also there.
Where we have challenge is insecurity, which was worse before this government came in, now it is being dealt with. We are dealing with the economy, we have dealt with the issue of ASUU strike, look at our aviation sector and now the non-oil economy is bigger than oil economy. That is what is called diversification, we offer solutions to the Nigerian economy.
That is why the President talked about Renewed Hope Agenda. Look at Nigerian banks, they are recapitalising, if the people don’t believe in the economy, they would not invest in the banks. Look at the Sovereign Trust, that of Nigeria and Lagos State were oversubscribed.
Who do you think are the investors, they are those that understand the dynamics of our economy. President Bola Tinubu recently visited King Charles of England, see the ovation that followed it. This is because the people believe that the President is capable of solving the problems of the country.
This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that we have a chartered accountant as president, someone that knows much about the economy. When you have an expert, and a professional in power, then you will have this kind of thing. Look at the Tax Law Reforms, these are economic policies and economic revolutions that will make Nigeria a better place.
