Honourable Michael Adesina Adeyemo, a Lawyer and Politician is the Speaker Oyo State House of Assembly, in an interview granted at an CEOAfrica onlineTV in Ibadan recently he spoke extensively on the achievements of the 8th Assembly in the state in the last two years and the relationship between the executive and Legislative arm of government in the state .Excerpts.
In the last 2 years how many of the bills passed by the house under your leadership has been signed into law by the executives and what is the level of implementation
Thank you for the question we’ve passed 45 laws in the last two years and this laws covers general administration, security, education health , even the one that have to do with violence against women , administration of criminal justice, land use act, infrastructure development presently we have fifteen laws at a stage of second reading we have 3 at the state of first reading, implementation has to do with the executives and until when the law is implemented then we will be able to see some deviancies or lacuna in it and gradually this administration have been trying to implement some of this law, the health insurance scheme was passed by this house and you can see that agency has been inaugurated, we also have the one they are about to inaugurate, primary health care agency, the one that has to do with mineral development too, gradually some of the law are being put in place
Political observers noted that there seems to be a sharps division among the members of the house of Assembly, you and some were tagged pro Ajimobi lawmakers while others were tagged anti Ajimobi lawmakers; I want you to clear air on this
It is not a matter of being pro Ajimobi, you have an institution or you have an organization and you are part of that administration the failure, the success of that administration you shared it , so you must ensure that everything that will bring success to that administration for you to also take the glory, you have to do it you are not elected to be an enemy to your governor or to any other member of his cabinet, you must decide, we resolved that we have to consider public interest first, people are so interested in seeing crisis because that is what we are noted for in the state, must you against the governor for no reason because you want to do politics, NO, you have to work together, you have to partner with your governor to ensure that the state takes full benefits of whatever programs the government have , if you are fighting, if you are not pro Ajimobi, who are you going to be for, this is a governor that said he has a vision to transform Oyo state then you must be a clog in the wheel of progress as a member of the house, the same public will continue to attack you seeing you as enemy as agent of destabilization so by being supportive and cooperating with the executives is for the good of the people of Oyo state it’s not working negatively but for the progress of the state to ensure that the state get the full benefit of this highly cerebral governor , he has his vision and we’ve seen the way he has been implementing it are we going to stop that, I think those who ever have that kind of opinion should have a second thought and as I said earlier on, we have to forget the idea of crisis in the house of Assembly if we really meant well for this state, we have other houses of Assembly, Lagos state is there are they against ‘ Ambode, if all the state houses of Assembly we’ve had in Lagos state were against the governors the development we are all talking about in Lagos state won’t be there a legislative house must collaborate supportive and ensure that they perform their oversight functions and be comply with the law, so they have to until when you hear noise ,abusive words, unnecessary confrontation then you will say oh they are fighting but of what benefit will it be, I think we shouldn’t thinking that way, our coorperation is for the good of the state
You are from Ibarapa zone, and while other zones are clamouring to produce the governor of the state in the next dispensation, nothing seems to be coming from your end, are you not interested in governorship or you want to play a last minute game
As far as I am concern, I don’t see it as a proper thing for us to do unnecessary zoning, we should look for the best even if it comes from anywhere, we should look for the best that will take it up from where this governor has taken it to, we don’t need to unnecessarily politicized who should lead, it could be anybody, let the best candidate emerge from anywhere and that is what Lagos state have been enjoying so far, sentiment apart, I am not interested in anything, nobody can determine what the future will be, we are here we saw today we don’t know what will happen later in the day, you only have and know what you are doing presently you don’t have control over tomorrow so as for me my main concern is about performing my duty now and succeed in what I am doing now and achieving the best on what I am doing now then God will decide what is the next, it is only God that knows your tomorrow, Man proposes but God disposes, I am not the kind of person that will say this is what I want
To what extent has the reliance on the executive for funding of the legislatures hampers the operation of the legislatives arm of government at the state level
It hampers , it depends in oyo state , we are fortunate to have somebody who have already pass through the legislative arm of government, that is having a former Senator as a governor he is very vast in all this things he knows he understand the challenges and mentality of the house and he has been cooperating with us, where you don’t have that kind of governor which have been our experience in the past, that is when you see crisis so it hampers, also the crop of people we elected into the house matters you may have incompetent person as your governor, don’t try to have incompetent members in the house because members will translate visions programs into law for implementation so we must have competent people in the house who will understand the challenges, who will corporate, when you look at what we are having on ground now, this government have been so supportive, very understanding governor because of his experience as a former senator, the perception of the members of the public, by the time they see you so closely with your governor for house needs for what you have to get for the house , they will see you as a puppet or a stooge for the governor but if you don’t need to go to the governor that doesn’t mean that we have sat on an authority and we have to start causing crisis no, it shouldn’t be but it requires a kind of maturity even when you have financial autonomy so that we will not have abuse or misuse of that privilege but so far in the state it has not been really hamper but it is not the best system, we really want truly presidential system that we are operating
How have you been able to use your position as a lawmaker and Speaker of the house to benefit your constituency?
Thank God this is my second term in the house in my first term I did a lot for my people one of which to the glory of God my constituency have been able to have two tertiary institutions, that is College of Education Lanlate and Ibarapa Plythecnic Eruwa though we are making sure that they are well funded, secondly I am able to facilitate the construction of road from Eleyele-Oogunerun down to Eruwa, it’s one of those things we have done , those institutions were campuses but through my influence and magnanimity of the executive governor of the state I approached him and he approved the full autonomy for the schools , there are other things as far as political appointments is concern, you make sure that your constituency were not marginalized in term of appointment into the board of parastatals even commissioners and this were part of what we have been able to do with fairness so that it will spread to other political zone, let us give it to this governor, he has been so considerate as far as this issue is concern he is taken cognizance of all the geo political zone as far as his appointment is concern, there are other things we can still influence even in the budget we must still be able to determine in Agriculture what goes into your constituency, on the road construction apart from the one I have mentioned earlier , we still have some within the constituencies that the state government must either rehabilitates or constructs we make sure that the works is completed
As a speaker of House of Assembly if you have any opportunity to change anything either at the state or Federal what is that thing that you will change
I will call for restructuring, physical restructuring of our federalism, whatever we practice we should practice that system holistically not in piecemeal, we are operating presidential system, some says it is very expensive, some says it is not good but we have some challenges now because we failed to adopt the system holistically,why cant we go back to our regional system, personally I want a parliamentary system of government that will help us a lot, we were colonized by the Britain, up till today they are still operating that system, we don’t have any relationship with the American presidential system of government,
