Engineer Doris Uboh Adekoya
represented Ika Federal Constituency, Delta State in the House of
Representatives between 2007 and 2011. Mrs. Uboh-Adekoya is again
pushing to return to the House and in this interview explains unfinished
businesses she has left in the House. Excerpts:
Between 2007 and now a lot of water has passed under the bridge politically. What lessons have you learnt?
I
have learnt a lot of lessons. It is possible you win your elections on
the field but you might not actually get your seat. My experience has
been a terrible one. Like I said, it is one that taught me the lesson
and that is you must follow your votes not just at your ward level but
all the way to collation because if you fail to do so a lot of things
are bound to happen. Eventually in my own case, results were manipulated
and that caused it.
Why do you want to go back to the House of Representatives?
I
will start by answering your question: why not? All I am trying to do
is contribute my own quota to nation building. I do not think because I
was pushed off the horse once, I should stop learning how to ride a
horse. If I do that, then I will not know how to ride a horse. I
believe anything worth doing is worth doing well. I believe that the
journey of a thousand miles starts in one day. There might be pitfalls,
but if you say because of that pitfall you go back, then you will never
see light at the end of the tunnel.
There are so many things to
be done in Nigeria. Our education sector is lagging, as a matter any
sector you want to put your finger on, is lagging. And it is only people
like up you and I that can turn it around. If some of us do not blaze
the trail, ignoring all the pitfall along the way, and to actually take
up the mantle, then that power transformation from the older generation
cannot happen.
So, I want to be part of the solution and not one of the complainers that Nigeria is not good.
While in the House of Reps, you co-sponsored the Minimum wage bill..
Point of correction.
I
did not co-sponsor the bill but I sponsored the bill all by myself. Not
because other members did not want to, but because a lot of people want
to stay away from controversial bills. If you look at the
controversial bills, they are usually the ones that belong to the
underdogs. To me, the common man is the reason we were in the House of
Reps.
The minimum wage bill was something I started and it went
all the way to third reading in the House of Reps. Coincidentally, an
executive bill came to meet my bill and the bills were merged together
to become one. Eventually, it was accented to law. I think that is the
singular thing I can say I am really proud of and I will like to be
given another chance in the house to even do more because we have a lot
of issues in Nigeria that need to be attended to.
I think it was a
rather positive thing for me that I was able to stand up for what I
believed in and also say this is how I feel even if it took me being
dragged on the floor of the house to have my voice heard on the floor of
the house. That was what happened.
Would you say you are satisfied with the outcome of the bill?
No,
I would not say I am. I think it needs to be amended. They should have
included how often they want the increment to be. Things like that
should be included into the bill. That way, the Nigeria Labour Congress
will not be coming to argue about increment because it has been embedded
in the bill. But it was not done, it ended up being a one line issue
and I think that needs to be looked at again to serve the purpose it was
expected to serve.
You served in the House of Reps during the Dimeji Bankole era, can you tell us how the experience was like?
I
think my experience is out there for anybody who wishes to know. It was
good, bad and ugly but I took it all in strides. I did not expect it to
be all rosy. Dimeji Bankole led us to the best of his capacity, though
to me, his best was not good enough but he did what he could and it was
an experience. Rightly or wrongly, it was an experience, I have taken it
and I am learning from it.
Can you compare the Bankole era to the Tambuwal era?
I
am not in the house presently and so, from what point of view am I
comparing? Looking at the house from outside is not the same as if you
are in the house. If I am a former member. I can only judge from what I
see on the television but I cannot really compare. I did work with both
of them. Tambuwal was part of the leadership and is my friend and still
is. I think they both have the same style.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/unfinished-affair-house-reps-uboh-adekoya/#sthash.PsOmbWkA.dpuf
Saturday, 21 December 2013
My unfinished affair in the House of Reps —Uboh-Adekoya
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