Hon. Tashir Okanlawon Soniyi, representing Ibeju-Lekki Federal Constituency of Lagos State in the House of Representatives, parades a rich curriculum vitae. The lawmaker who was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had earlier been a member of the Constituent Assembly and chairman of his local government.

Soniyi, who also formerly held senior management positions at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in this interview faults the approach adopted by anti-Bankole elements in the House.

According to him, had the “Progressives” led by Hon. Dino Melaye canvassed the support of other lawmakers ahead, they might have succeeded in having their allegations looked into. He also speaks on the nation’s democracy, 50th anniversary budget, cost of democracy, the legislature, Lagos PDP and lots more. Excerpts:

Democracy score-card
I will say it is good. Compared to what we saw around 1960, there are a lot of infrastructural improvement. There are good roads, better hospitals. I am not saying we have passed as such, but I must add that the attitudinal aspect of Nigerians have not allowed all those improvements to get us to where we are supposed to be.

Billion naira anniversary
Well, the Federal Government is in a position to really determine how much it will cost to celebrate it. It is a golden jubilee anniversary, and whatever anybody may say, we still have something to celebrate. We are not saying we are satisfied, because one would have expected better performance, but that we are still one today is an achievement. Some other countries, who have similar backgrounds could have broken into pieces, but we thank God that we are still together. You can’t just pick a figure and say something is too high or too low. What is the programme?

Expensive democracy
Democracy all over the world is expensive, especially in a presidential system. You provide for the legislature, executive and of course, the judiciary. Well, I don’t know whether it is too expensive in Nigeria or not. Since we know generally that it is an expensive venture, the question is do we deserve such an expensive venture? My attitude is that whatever that is applied, our attitude to it is the most important thing. Are we doing it right? Or what is happening. Since we opted for democracy, we should be prepared for it whether you run presidential or parliamentary system, let us do it right. Let everybody keep to the rules.

Legislature as drain pipe
I will agree that lawmaking is expensive. When there is lawlessness, it is then you appreciate the beauty of lawmaking. That is the benefit of making laws for the people. When do you have legislature on its own? To avoid a situation where the executive becomes so powerful? When the executive becomes so powerful, then you know you will be running into problems. It is this check and balance arrangement, you can’t have everything. What the executive might do because of absence of control might be too much in terms of cost to the system. So, you cannot really say the cost of legislation is too much. It has some positive effects on the society.

Part-time legislature
If we make it part-time, it is okay. As it is now, even 181 days out of 365 days, isn’t that almost a part-time thing? Does it mean it is only when you are called upon to do something? No! You cannot work that way. As it is now, I think it is okay. You have 181 legislative days in a year.

PDP and democracy dividends
Which democracy dividends? Is the press not as free as possible? What is the dividend we are talking about? One party will control the centre, other fairly large parties have one state or the other.
We are not saying we’ve got there. We’ve not got there. It’s a process. When Obasanjo took over in 1999, he told us that when he left in 1979, he left planes. Many things are on board. It was only that during the military, there wasn’t much happening. But with democracy, corruption is being exposed and people are more careful than they were. A lot of infrastructure had been developed to ensure that certain things are put in place, like the EFCC, ICPC. There are extra-judicial efforts by the government to ensure strict adherence to the rule of law.

House crisis
On that day, we resumed from a short recess and while we were on recess, we had read in the papers certain allegations against the leadership of the House. That is not the procedure. Even on that day, the man who moved the motion to check such attitude came under the order of privileges, that his privileges have been abused by the actions of some members. In fact, he was moving his motion when the leader of the “Progressives” in the House started shouting “no way”, “it cannot happen”.

The man continued and the motion was passed. What I had expected was that the leader of the “Progressives” would have mobilised enough members if there is anything against the leadership or whatever, to move his motion, which normally should be seconded, and if there is any counter-motion, it will be subjected to debate and a position will be taken. You are not to go about maligning everybody, including the National Assembly. No! It’s a question of procedure. If you do that, then you have offended part of the rules of the House.

Journey so far
It has been interesting. We are representing the people in various ways. If there is anything involving your constituency, you have the opportunity of representing the people. It is a collective effort. It is part of the beauty of democracy. We are not perfect human beings. We can make mistakes like any other person.

Lagos PDP and 2011
We are mending fences. All that is necessary is that divisions are narrowed to the barest minimum. Once there is unity within the party, we will do well. We are really on it to ensure everything is properly done to take over Lagos State in 2011.


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