Tony Udemba
Rita Orji is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member representing Ajeromi-Ifelodun Federal Constituency of Lagos, in the House of Representatives. The lawmaker speaks about her passion to bring development and transformation to her constituency and the compelling need for the country to be restructured now if it must grow.
How would you describe your foray into politics?
My journey into politics started when I joined Pan Igbo Foundation, (PNF), a political platform founded by the late former vice-president of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, in our collective struggle to end the despotic era of military rule in the country, and entrench democracy which is the government of the people by the people and for the people. Before then, as an activist I’d come to realise that no matter what your good intentions are, you certainly have a limited capacity to change things as an individual, whereas if you are in political leadership it is possible to do things on a larger scale. As a member of PNF, it was natural for me to find a natural habitat with PDP, and from there my real journey into politics began. From being a member of our ward executive in Ajegunle, I graduated into the LGA Executive as the Assistant Legal Adviser, then to the State Executive as the Assistant Legal Adviser of PDP. It was from that position that I contested and was elected into the House of Representatives, representing the good people of Ajeromi-Ifelodun Federal Constituency of Lagos.
What has been your experience in the house, and how do you assess the leadership of Dogara?
So far the journey has not been palatable. As a woman, the experience has been that of intimidation all the way. But as a new timer, I have continued to work tirelessly in my bid to contribute my quota in our collective efforts for quality legislations and good governance. I can still recall the day the speaker gave me the floor to move my first motion in the house, which received an overwhelming support from other legislators. I have about 23 bills, and most of them have passed the second reading stage.
Talking about the speaker, I don’t just call him my leader or Mr. Speaker, I simply call him brother and he calls me my sister. His leadership of the house is simply wonderful. The truth is that he is an outstanding and hardworking leader who treats everyone fairly irrespective of political affiliation or where you come from. The House of Representatives have continued to witness lots of achievements under the leadership of Speaker Yakubu Dogara. He is a leader whom God has used to subdue the excesses of certain forces over my life. Several times certain personalities had ganged up to subdue me, even making it difficult for me to move motions. Sometimes they had mounted pressure on him to remove me as committee chairperson, but he had always reminded them that he still holds the gavel in the house, and that I am doing my work satisfactorily. Dogara is someone that believes in me and encourages me a lot, as well as offers me the floor to contribute wonderfully during legislative sessions and in my various assignments as chairperson, house committee on Diaspora.
What are some of the projects you have done in your constituency?
Firstly, it will be recalled that on the International Women’s Day, a day specially set aside for the celebration of womanhood all over the world; I decided to officially launch a financial empowerment scheme specifically devoted to support women. It is more of a specialised loan scheme for women, modelled like a micro-finance scheme, aimed at empowering women. It is my modest way of appreciating the various roles of the women in our society. When you look at the difficulties of borrowing money from micro-finance banks, and the associated high interests rates, as well as the brick-wall in obtaining financial support from various government financial empowerment schemes and their associated high interest rates, which does not properly address the interest of women, you will be touched with the sufferings in the land. The women are the heads that drives the neck in the right direction, and anything that affects them also affects the family. Therefore, I had thought it very wise to support them with the financial scheme to enable them get the necessary finance, no matter what it is, to grow their businesses and support their families. The first phase of the scheme is targeting 200 women, and we hope to expand it to benefit more women in subsequent phases.
Similarly, we have several other projects which we have done, and which we are about to do, which time and space may not permit me to do. However in summary, I will recall that in 2016 we trained about 250 tailors and empowered them with sewing machines, as well as bought over 30 generators and also 30 grinding machines to market women.
In the same year, we bought 32 Keke Napep and transport buses for the youths, and hair dryers for women. We equally trained 25 youths at the Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and marine Research, Victoria Island, and also sent 25 people for agric-business training at IIATA, Ibadan. We also did about 7 water boreholes in our community. These and more were some of the things we did in 2016. In 2017 we did a water borehole in Uzor Street and also facilitated a transformer and steady electricity in the area with about 12 strong concrete poles. I painstakingly lobbied for the inclusion of the construction of Uzor street on the special intervention of the speaker of the house of reps. Today when you go to John Okoli Street you can see how we have been able to restore light to the area.
While the contractors were about to move to Uzor Street, suddenly some local opportunists who have no interest of the people, are busy working day and night to frustrate the construction of the road and other areas. From January to February this year, we have successfully done 17 water boreholes in our community, even when ordinarily it is the primary responsibility of the local government and state government to provide such services to the people. But as their representative, who is already aware of their sufferings, I have to step in to provide these basic needs to the good people of Ajegunle. One thing that baffles me is that these politicians who have no plans to bring good things to the people, would rather try to destroy that which we have provided for the benefit of the people.
But one thing about me is that nobody can intimidate me in the name of playing politics because I am the lioness and daughter of Zion and what gives me joy is in providing services and solutions that will better the lives of our people. Perhaps what I might be doing now is to be putting sign post at various areas in Ajegunle in order to wake up the local authorities to perhaps rush to the areas and start some work in the area. There is the need for them to be alive to their responsibilities.
What is your reaction on growing attacks and killings of Nigerians in the diaspora?
In as much as I had addressed this issue severally in the past, the truth is that the work of a legislator is to make good laws and initiate workable policies, while the executive arm of the government is saddled with the responsibility of the implementation of what the legislators have done. As the chairperson, House Committee on Diaspora, I am satisfied with the enormity of work done in the onerous task of addressing issues of incessant attacks, killings and inhuman acts against Nigerians in the Diaspora. But it is unfortunate that the federal government is yet to take all the necessary actions in order to effectively address the matter. Perhaps that may be the reason from time to time this issue keeps rearing its head. Today, it is unfortunate that Nigerians have become endangered species all over the world. The truth is that whatever you call your dog is what people will call it, and if you call your people criminals and drug barons, definitely other countries will call them and treat them as criminals and drug barons. The truth is that these are not helping matters as our people continue to suffer from time to time. I can attest to you that most Nigerians are into one problem or the other simply because of the failure of our foreign missions in these countries to intervene. If you go to countries like Malaysia, South Africa and others, you will be disheartened on the deplorable treatments given to Nigerians, especially the large number of Nigerians in detentions, without the federal government doing enough to bring them home. Before the issue of Libya blew open, I had informed those in authority that some Europeans were colluding with some Libyans to harvest kidneys and other vital organs of Nigerians. But some people were busy playing to the gallery instead of doing something to stem the tide. It took the special report aired by CNN on how Nigerians are been brutally murdered with their organs harvested and sold to Europeans and Asians, and others are sold into slavery, to get the federal government to start bringing them back to the country. It is saddening that the vital organs of Nigerians are sold for USD 300 and above. There was a particular case of a Nigerian lady whose kidney was forcefully taken away from her in Italy, I have to travel to Italy and took her to the hospital, and later sought the intervention of the federal government on the matter. Unfortunately nothing happened simply because I belong to the opposition party, the PDP.
What is your take on the call for the restructuring of the country?
Today, many Nigerians are calling for restructuring, with some of them not knowing what restructuring is all about. While some look at it from educational, transportation and other perspectives, another school of thought talks about political restructuring of the nation. No matter the which angle you are coming from, the truth is that Nigeria today is structurally imbalanced. Therefore, there is the urgent need for fiscal restructuring of the nation. For example south- south has six states; south- east has five states and south -west has six states, while the three zones in the North are having 19 states. This is another sign of structural imbalance of the federating units. Look at the national assembly, in the House of Representatives and senate, the numerical strength of both senators and reps members from the north are higher in number than those from the southern part of the country. Again, this is another case of structural imbalance in the system which needs to be corrected. The danger in this is that if there is a debate which the representatives from the north have special interest in, it may be easy for them to scale through and have their way when it comes to voting in the national assembly. But the truth is that if we must move forward as a nation, there is the compelling need for the nation to be restructured now. There is the need for the devolution of power among the federating units in order to engender massive development across the federating units.