Lagos Island Is No Longer A Dangerous Zone – Lawmaker

Mr Hakeem Masha, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, said on Saturday that Lagos Island was safe for the conduct of 2015 general elections.
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He promised that the area would experience free and fair election in 2015 as the area was no longer a dangerous zone in the state.
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Masha (APC-Lagos Island II) said that the area had stopped harbouring hoodlums, adding that the constituents had turned away from crime.
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“I don’t think we will have violence in Lagos because it is no more news that the Lagos State Government is doing well, so we should not have any fear in Lagos over the 2015 general elections.
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“Now, we have the control of the constituents and we know how to talk to them.
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“I have tried to always be in their midst just to know how the constituent feel about the government,” Masha said.
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The lawmaker urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct upcoming polls with high degree of patriotism and seriousness, having all the logistics in place before the election date.
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Masha added that the release of the 2015 election timetable should be an advantage to the commission to have enough preparation as the election period approached.
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He said all efforts were put in place to help develop the area and ensure that the residents enjoyed dividends of democracy.
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The legislator also noted that legislative arm of government faced a lot of challenges as many people did not understand the functions of a lawmaker.
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“I am a member of Lagos Assembly, I can tell you that the House has done well, with the way we work and perform our oversight functions, we are not doing badly.
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“We cannot all fold our hands and criticise others, if we have something to contribute, we should join them.
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“Also, we help our people get across to the executive on whatever they need, we assist them in this area.
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“We are their ears, eyes, nose and mouthpiece. They come with their problems and we try to help out,” he said.
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The lawmaker appealed to the people not to compare legislative role with that of executive, like commissioners and local government council chairmen who award contracts.
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According to him, the role of legislators is to make law and perform oversight functions.
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“I have tried to give them orientation on what the legislators do, I tell them that we make laws and perform oversight functions.
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“It is a gradual process, we just have to keep telling them, with the help of journalists it would be easy to educate the people on this.
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“I once gave kerosene to my people free of charge when it was scarce, we gave out about 10,000 litres of kerosene to people in 10 wards.
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“We had good feedback, but some people even said on facebook that we only spent one per cent of the money they gave us for the people,’’ Masha said.