Lagos should be given a special status – Umenzekwe
…Says Nigeria needs better working document
Hon. Modestus Umenzekwe is a Chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in this interview in Lagos, he repeats his call for a Special Status for Lagos State in the budget and also lent his voice on the need to have a better working document called the constitution for Nigeria, Excerpt:
With the stringent economic policies biting Nigerians hard now, is Lagos still a place of opportunities as it were?
Well, Lagos was the capital of Nigeria before it was moved to Abuja, and I can tell you that since then Lagos has been, let me use the word, in quote, struggling to maintain her status in terms of accommodating people, being accommodating, in terms of being peaceful. Why I used the word struggling is because of the influx of people into Lagos, with what I may call, from my own personal assessment, a small landmass. So the state is struggling to accommodate people for which, I congratulate the managers of Lagos and the government.
I have made some publications on this, in the past, when I said, on 14th June, 2021, that Lagos is a prime example of peace, opportunities and symbol of unity in Nigeria. It is in The Authority Newspaper. Again this question came up in July, 2021, precisely on the 6th of July, I granted an interview which is Daily Sun, page 20, that Lagos is a Prime Example of Opportunities. You and I know very well that everybody from the six geopolitical zones have been rushing to Lagos and are still rushing to Lagos for better opportunities, it is another home for all, after Anambra State. Lagos accommodates everybody and you see the population growing in geometric progression. Outside there people feel that there is a lot of money in Lagos, that government makes a lot of money; whether that assertion is right or wrong, the most important thing we must know is that Lagos State is carrying a lot of load, in terms of human capacity, in terms of vehicular movements, in all manner of human endeavors Lagos is the highest. And that is why I give kudos to those who give it the name Centre of Excellence.
And good a thing, successive governments in Lagos have been trying their best to make sure that that status of Centre of Excellence is maintained. I had my fears during the EndSARS protest that Lagos would collapse, but lo and behold, the young Governor then contained the whole thing, I thought Lagos is finished because of the quantum of damage in terms of infrastructure and in terms of properties that were touched. No other state in the federation suffered what Lagos suffered. Now flash back to Ebola, Lagos was badly hit, the then governor had to cut short his travel, that was Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) then, he cut short his travel, came back and swung into action. He established what I may call the first isolation camp in this country to contain Ebola. Even though lives were lost, Lagos did her best despite the number of people in Lagos, to contain that outbreak.
Then in 2020, I thought Lagos would collapse due to covid-19, because this is where you have population, every part of Lagos you go, you see human beings moving like sea, still government was able to handle the issue. Lagos is where you come in from any part of the country, any tribe, you buy land, pay your necessary fees, build your house, nobody disturbs you. Lagos is a place you can come with polythene bag and go home with Ghana must go full of money, full of good things. Whatever you want in this world, so to say, is in Lagos. And that is why I insist Lagos is a prime example of peace, opportunities and unity and anyone joking with Lagos is joking with the entire Nigeria, no matter how anybody sees it, no matter any reason, once you joke with Lagos you are joking with the entire Nigeria.
But the suffering in the land appears to have hit Lagos residents the more; what do you think?
The word hardship has been there from time immemorial. With apologies to the richest man in Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, we assume that he is superfluously reach but when you go near him, he would tell you the hardship he is facing in all his endeavors to get to that status; the same thing with Billgate, when you get there, with apologies to him, he will equally tell you that. Then bringing it down to our own environment, the way you are talking about, everybody faces hardship including myself talking to you. If I open up my life story, what I am facing now, you would have mercy on me. Likewise if you open up to me what you are going through, I would say, Oh I am better off! So the hardship in the society, by society I mean all over the world, is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. It is not peculiar to Lagos, so wherever you are, you face hardship one way or the other.
So you are asking me as if Lagos created hardship, hardship is a natural phenomenon that comes in different ways. So Lagos is facing hardship, as far as I am concerned, after all the hardship of trying to contain the exploding population is not an easy one, the hardship of trying to contain crime to the barest minimum, the hardship of trying to open up channels, doors, ways, to improve on vehicular movements is not an easy task. The hardship of trying to provide jobs to most of the youths that converted themselves to hoodlums is not an easy one.
So there is hardship in Lagos, there is opportunity in Lagos, and there is peace in Lagos. Take for instance, security. Lagos is the only state in Nigeria for now, where people run to; all these kidnapping, robbery, banditry, and all that, are not recorded much in Lagos. Look at what is happening in Kaduna, where hundreds of school children are kidnapped on daily basis, and in other states like that, but in Lagos you hardly hear that, you can hear that once in a while, and the number will not be as large as, even those living at the fringes, at the suburbs are protected, so I think Lagos is still okay, it is the safest state, safest city and the best economy in the country for now, and I still insist and maintain that Lagos is a mini Nigeria.
The issue of Special Status in the budget for Lagos State, we have gone through your previous publications, do you still insist that Lagos should be given special status?
My answer to that question is yes, if you ask me the same question tomorrow I will still say yes, as I told you yes, many years back. You see, I am from Anambra State a very lovely state, but that will not stop me from saying the truth. You see, Lagos State set the pace for economic and infrastructural advancement of this country, like you said in the 7th or 8th Assembly, I made a publication in the newspaper, advising the then National Assembly, led by most respected senator, David Mark, to give support to a bill sponsored by our now First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, requesting that Lagos should be given special status in the budget. That bill was turned down, I think about 12th April, 2018, in The Authority Newspaper, page 25, go there, the title is, Senator Oluremi Tinubu is right, that is where I buttressed my point.
Going further again, on 11th September, 2018, in the same The Authority Newspaper, page 21, I repeated it, National Assembly should revisit Lagos State special status bill, but all those things were turned down, I was like a lone voice crying in the wilderness. But bear in mind that most of the members of the national assembly in this country and big men in this country emanated from Lagos. When we were in secondary school, if we were going on holiday, during the long vacation, we would be asking ourselves where are you going to spend your holidays, and you would find out that 80% of our school mates then would say they are going to Lagos. And if you don’t have anywhere to go or call any other state, people would be laughing at you. Look at the heavy trucks on the streets of Lagos, the vehicular pressure on the roads of Lagos, the water ways, look at the Third Mainland Bridge, every day there is work going on there, all because of pressure, and you know water in Lagos is salty, it is not a very friendly water, so it takes the state a chunk of money from the budget to maintain Lagos, I don’t see it as what the state can carry alone.
Now they are talking about the Fourth Mainland Bridge, which is still aimed at also trying to decongest, open up channels for vehicular movements and transportation issues; they are filling some parts of the ocean, to accommodate Nigerians, not only Lagosians, so I don’t see the reason why that bill did not see the light of the day. 80% of National Assembly members one way or the other, directly or indirectly are in Lagos, they have properties here, they have their families here, we shouldn’t play politics with it, because in this country every little thing they bring politics into it, even when you are pressed and you want to go to toilet, they bring politics into it. But this one is very clear, anyone going against it is economic with the truth, so let them revisit Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s bill to give Lagos Special Status, and I know and I believe that the uncommon Senate President, who was an uncommon Governor, and did uncommon things will do uncommon thing now to press that Lagos State should be given a special status, which is another uncommon thing that is progressive I expected him to do, and that is who, Godswill Akpabio.
Are you advocating that the bill be reintroduced by a senator or the old bill should be dusted up, as it were, since Senator Oluremi Tinubu is no longer in the Senate?
Either way, either they revisit it, because the papers are there or be reintroduced by the three senators representing Lagos State. So they have a lot of work to do, the three senators should rise to the occasion, and members of the public like myself and many others like that, are ready to support and it should be entrenched in the constitution to be amended or the new constitution to be drafted.
Some patriotic Nigerians are calling for constitutional review while others are calling for an entirely new constitution or even many are advocating that the 2014 National Conference report should be dusted up, so where do you see yourself in all these?
You said some Patriot Nigerians are calling for new a constitution, while some are calling for a review of the existing constitution; all of them are patriotic Nigerians calling for a better working document for Nigeria. That is the way l look at it, there is no way we can be living without change, there are so many things that are not in the constitution that supposed to be there, and there are so many things that are lopsided that are supposed to be adjusted, take for instance the southeast don’t have equal states like other geopolitical zones, and I think it is the constitutional review that will take care of all these things, so that we get one or two additional states just like others. So whether you call it new or review, the most important thing is there is need, there is serious need for us to have a better working document to better the lives of Nigerians, however way they did it to guide us as Nigerians. And in doing that it might lead us to going into devolution of power, which will be a modification of the 1963 Constitution, it is very very important and if it is done, some of these crises here and there will calm down. Nigeria is so large and they are patient enough, so there is no problem, at least in your house periodically you change your furniture, periodically you change your wardrobe, periodically you buy new ones, that is the way I think a constitution should function.
And you know our constitutional lawyer now late, Prof Ben Nwabueze advocated for this, in as much as he was part of those that drafted what we are using now under the military. But he has since called for a review of the entire constitution, so let the debate go on, let the conversation go on, let Nigerians say their minds, let the market women talk, let teachers, students, artisans, business people, let everybody talk, the national assembly will now harmonise the whole thing and marry it with the 2014 National Conference report. You see all these things, to me is a matter of nomenclature, whether you call it confab or the most important thing is that we are talking about a better working document for Nigerians. The 2014 National Conference, some items there must have been very obsolete, therefore the national assembly has a responsibility, it is a very serious task of either reviewing the existing constitution or drafting a new one, or reviewing the 2024 national confab, or marrying the three documents to bring the best, in fact I encourage them to go into eclectic fashion of points and ideas to give us a better working document.
We would like to have your assessment of the administration of governor Sanwo-Olo of Lagos State
The only thing I can tell you that summarises everything is that Sanwo-Olu has changed gear and that gear is the acceleration gear, in terms of providing security I talked about at the early part of this interview, in terms of transportation, look at our light rail and the blue rail, in terms of opening roads, in terms of palliative, despite the hard economic situation in the country; he has provided palliatives in different forms to Lagosians. I think there is one he called Lagos money, I can’t remember exactly, so the summary of what I am saying is that Sanwo-Olo is on a speed gear now to achieve greater Lagos horizon, as they say. I congratulate him. Yes, there may be criticisms here and there, but if he is not being attacked, if he is not being criticized he would never be on his toes, so he should sieve all the attacks coming to him, use the ones he could use and move Lagos forward like his predecessors did, Lagos is so blessed, they keep having good governors according to the foundation laid by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
