Matthew Aisagbonrhiodion Urhoghide, a pharmacist, is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ndidate for the seat of Edo South Senatorial
District. In this interview with our Benin Bureau Chief, FrancisOnoiribholo, Urhoghide says he has decided that a big chunk of his allowances will be committed to scholarships for the youths, particularly indigent students, empowerment for women, proper and adequate local representation, including adequate attention to “short-change” in revenue allocation and boundary delineation. Excerpts:
What is your agenda for Edo South Senatorial District if you are elected?
Thank you very much; I want to say with a whole sense of responsibility and a lot of emphasis that one is not a pretender about the quest to represent Edo South Senatorial District at the Senate.
Apart from the constitutionally stipulated functions or duties, I have to perform as a Senator in the Senate, to make laws for the good governance of this country, to do oversight function in a direction and try to build or enhance our own national institutions; I have vowed to represent, propagate and project my constituency in all spheres of endeavour as never before seen in Edo South.
I know it too that if these functions are carried out as expected or to the optimum, you will find out that the country and our people will be better off for it. However, the real point I want to make is making laws for the good governance of this country. You could be in the Senate for four years and not be able to pull a motion through no matter of course, how sentimental or how concerned you are because there are too many sides to an issue and if it does not meet the standards of the majority, there is no way the motion can be pulled through to become a law. Again, an Assembly can have a dislike for you; these are things that are possible because we are human beings.
So you might never be able to pull that. An intention, which is expressed through a motion to be carried through legislative processes to become a law, might never pull through but that does not still make you a bad senator. But when of course, you go and do oversight function, oversight function is to say there are objectives that have already been thrown or adopted either by way of motion, resolutions or law and you say for instance, you have passed a budget, budget estimate when it is passed and signed by the President it becomes a law or appropriation law or act. When you pass that into a law and you say you are sending X amount to the ministry of health for the provision of medical facilities and then of course you sit back and not go and supervise, that is what is being done by the executive arm of government, it is like you didn’t do anything in the first place.
There was no business appropriating that amount for that provision to be made but I want to say that if you go and do that oversight function, going to the ministry to see to it that these things are put in place, then in that case you are enhancing the building of that institution of our health facilities. So what I am saying is that the oversight function really is for us to be able to maintain and develop our own national institutions that are intended either by the laws we have made or by the resolutions we have passed or by the motions that are pending.
I want to say that the part of it that has been very, very dismal that has never worked is the question of representation of our constituencies, that is to say the people in our constituencies have not been properly represented because all I have seen since 1999, more than I can remember unless I need to be corrected, particularly those within my own domain, I am talking of our state, no person really has ever had the input of the people he is representing; it has been uni-directional representation. You cannot be a legislator and you think you have the exclusive preserve of knowledge and that only your,brain can decide what you do at whatever level; whether in the House of Representatives or the Senate, you are supposed to engage the people at intervals, you are supposed to hold town hall meetings with them, you are supposed to have an interface with them, so that they tell you of course their needs, so that they will be able to set an agenda for you which of course you can input into your overall agenda that you want to pursue.
You have seen it here that what has been happening is that people go there after about a year or so they come back and they buy motorcycles, buy hair drying machines and grinding machines, then they go to public place, collect the press and they say go and cover, we have come to empower our people. Even if you have come to empower did they tell you ‘that is their need’?
What do you really mean?
What I am saying, there have to be a bi-directional or a dual-directional or a two-directional relationship, when you tell the people to wait for you every quarter I will interface with you in a town-hall meeting let us decide this is where we are, this is where we have been, what do you want me to do on your behalf, what do you want me to say on your behalf, all that you know, the people can give you the idea which of course you can even move as motion which might become a law because a set of people of your constituency expressed it.
You should expect too that people in other constituencies in Nigeria might just be feeling the same way and if you raise a motion like that probably you will have plenty of support. So you find out that our people really have not had any input in their representation and that is why you see I have said it that it is now going to be productive representation where people now will have a say. Every three months, I am putting it, every quarter I am going to have a time to sit down with the people of Edo South to have their input in my discussion on the floor of the senate and of course for me to be able to do that which they want me to do. So, only my idea cannot create a total representation, it is the people’s idea and it has never happened.
Have others done this?
Only a few Senators I have seen, Senator Oluremi Tinubu has had over six town-hall meetings since she got to the senate, the 7th Senate.
I have seen too that Prof. Hope Uzodinma has had that. So, it is not just a case of it is PDP or it is APC, the one that is doing it well must be commended irrespective of the party, the people must have their input.
Number two, when you are talking of representation, because you don’t belong to the executive arm of government that does not mean that you cannot initiate projects that of course can benefit your people particularly as you are talking of youth development, women development. I am particularly moved by youths, for instance, I have decided that I am going to commit a very big fraction of my allowances to scholarships for our youths, particularly indigent students because I believe that the only way you can develop Science & Technology is through education and the only way you can have quality human capital development is through education. I am going to commit my time; in those days we used to have what you call Benin Divisional Council scholarship which covered all the Local Government Areas in Edo South Senatorial District today. All those ones, those scholarship schemes must come back because we have a lot of our youths that are on the streets who have not been able to go to school because there is nobody to fend for them. I am going to commit myself to it.
I am really going to develop a comprehensive youth centre, the first of its kind, a comprehensive youth centre is not the one where they come and have discussion; it is going to be a comprehensive one for sports development. So, those who are going to school, those who want to develop skills, we can have a football field there, we can have other games facilities there and then let the youths come, we will have a library there for those who are going to school. Then those who want to say it is football I want to play we will set up an academy, so that let it be that our youths have a place to go to where they can interface with their own peers where of course they too can have access to think about many things to become in life.
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