Mojisola Alli-Macaulay, lawyer and journalist, is a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Amuwo Odofin Constituency I. In this interview, she speaks with Oziegbe Okoeki on women in politics, and why death penalty is good for corrupt officials and not hate speech offenders.
You have spent five months as a first termer in the Lagos State House of Assembly. What is your experience as a lawmaker?
Firstly, I thank God for everything. The experience I have been having here is life changing. Its been a joyous experience so far, although it has not been easy. You know, the task is enormous. I am trying to gasp as much information as well as to delegates and to carry out my obligations as efficient as possible.
Its been eye opening. It has made me more mature, more open. Its really bringing me out of my shell, because you have to attend as much function, you know it is teaching me time management because you have to carry out a lot of tasks at the same time.
Then, in the part of learning the job itself, the business of lawmaking is exposing me to the down stream of government, the nitty-gritty of how Lagos state as a whole works, especially being a member of two ad-hoc committees.
So, I am really enjoying the experience, very knowledgeable for me because I have been forced to peruse a lot of things I do not know, to research and to know. So, it has become a habit for me. And also its been able to help me create a nexus between myself and my community, Amuwo Odofin, and getting me to understand the people. It is even making me more compassionate. I want to share in their joy, pain and laughter. I have received invitations from them to many functions. Everybody wants to identify with me.
I have also become like a role model for the young people, especially for the girl child. I have been like an Ambassador for them; a lot of things that actually touch my life. I am actually getting to connect by this whole phase.
So, this is an institution. Its no gain saying that this is actually a life in itself. It is definitely another life from what I am used to and I am grateful for it. And I also want to give assurance to Lagosians that the 9th Assembly is ready to serve to the best of our capability, and to the good people of Amuwo Odofin that I am here to represent them.
No doubt you had some expectations when you were coming here, like work schedule, relations with other colleagues. Have these expectations been met?
Firstly, you must know that this is not my first time of engaging in legislative business. I was a councillor of my Ward in Amuwo-Odofin and also at that time in 2011 deputy leader of the legislative house of my local government. So, I am not completely a greenhorn in the business of legislature. Its just that I am now operating at a higher pedestal.
As a lawmaker, you are not expected to be rich. You are supposed to be engaged in the business of making laws to affect lives positively, perform oversight functions, listen basically to the problems and demands of your people. That is your primary obligation as a lawmaker. So, I never nursed, even as a councillor I never looked forward to making money. It is not a money spinning venture, it is close to saying it is service to humanity, because once you are a lawmaker, it is actually the other way round. You are just here to serve and represent the people not to make money, to serve as a feedback mechanism between your people and the state and putting laws in place to make life better for them.
There is no way you can make money being a lawmaker. What you earn here are your salaries and imprest. Nothing like constituency allowance here. We don’t get that here.
I am looking forward to seeing a system that works more than as I met it, to see people live a better life, see our economy booming, seeing my young people and women in Amuwo Odofin being empowered and self-sufficient, self-reliant, seeing the girl-child safe on Lagos streets. That is what I stand for and want to see happen. I want to see things evolve for good for the better. I was never looking forward to coming here to make money because I already knew as a former councillor that lawmakers are not rich people.
You are just three female lawmakers in the Lagos Assembly now. Are you satisfied with women representation?
You see, women have a lot of challenges becoming whatever they want to be. You will see that women involvement in politics is really not favourable in this part of the world, Africa. But, when it comes to Nigeria, we are not doing good in terms of putting women forward in politics. Its been branded as men’s club and that is totally not acceptable.
Women naturally are divine creatures created by God to be multipliers. We are supposed to be God’s perfection after man. Women are strong and well put together by God and nature. We are naturally given God’s talent and we have the power to multi-task, we have the ability to think on our feet. The woman never gives up easily. She is never deterred by whatever she believes in, she is also an institution, she is everything that everyman needs.
If you look around the world today, there are so many women in politics in places where they understand these things. And any country that does not give women the chance to serve is actually short changing itself. Any country looking down on its women at this stage of human civilisation is actually not doing its economy any good.
Women face a lot of challenges. They have been subdued, suppressed and sidelined. When critical political decisions are being made, women are kept in the kitchen and the other room, so to speak. And for me this not fair. A woman has a lot to give and do for our societies. We know where the shoe pinches and we know how to tackle problems. All we need is just the opportunity to serve.
Politics is in two dimensions. I faced a lot of antagonism, especially from the society. Once you step out as a woman, you are given names. It is stereotype. We need to break all this barriers and go beyond it. Women need to break through this ice to the other side. A lot of women don’t have the power and guts to do all these things, to face it to the very end. Gone were the days when women used to be their own worse enemies. Now, the narrative is changing, a lot of women now form groups, societies, even the UN have their own charter for women to encourage them to come out, to vote and also to be voted for. Coming from the time of the Beijin conference nothing much has changed concerning women especially in Nigeria. So we need to actually look inwards, push our best women out to support in the business of nation building and we would get there.
How would you describe your relationship with other members, considering the fact that there are ranking members amongst you?
The best set of friends I have had for a long time I can tell you emanated from this 9th Assembly. All the ranking members are very open to us the new ones, the rookies. They are very open and friendly. I have a good relationship with virtually everybody in this House and they call me all sorts of beautiful names to show that we actually go together.
There is no gender disparity or sentiments. We are treated equally, equal respect. Every thing we do here is on equal basis. We relate with each other very well, we work together, stick together, do every thing together even though we have our differences.
As a female lawmaker, have you experienced any form of pressure from your constituents as regards demands and how have you been able to cope?
The pressure actually starts from when you paste your poster to contest for election. That is when the demands start. I don’t know how we got to that level, but it is really very bad. Our people should understand that there is a thin line from being generous and you demanding as of right from your representatives.
When you have such orientation or societal paradigm, then, you may not have the authority or mandate to hold your representative responsible for whatever you get. The people deserve the kind of leaders they get. When you put your demand or request making it a right to your representative, then, you are telling him that you’ve gotten your fair share and you can not hold them responsible for anything. You can not recall them when they misbehave.
Read Also: Interview with Award-winning Shoe Designer, Emmanuel Faleti
I don’t see that as a way forward. What I believe most representatives should do is to have a means of providing, if they have within their capacity, for their people to provide succour in their own little way and be able to facilitate majorly democratic goodies for their people. Not when people now push us out of our way and expect us to turn water to wine. Then, it becomes something else. Our people should understand, we are not here minting money. We are just here to serve.
What are your plans on empowerment for your constituents?
My cardinal focus for my constituents have always been the women, empower a woman you empower the whole world. Why, because I see women controlling the world, women are everywhere moving the world forward. Once you can give adequate opportunity to women you have a relief.
The young people are the future leaders, no matter what or who we are and what we do today, some day sooner or later we will definitely step aside for these young blood to come. So we need to actually give them what they need to prepare for the future. So I see the youths of my constituency being empowered, being supported. By extension the younger ones who are in school, that is why I have my education and social support programme initiative.
Recently I inducted some young girls from all schools in in Amuwo Odofin, made them my Ambassadors, I call them Mama Ambassadors. Its a way of giving them a sense of belonging and responsibility at a very young age. Make them understand that being a girl does not limit you to any kind of lifestyle, you need to become and get what belongs to you for the future.
Also I want to take care of the widows, give them widows mite from time to time and so many other things.
What are your views on corruption?
Corruption is like cancer, it is everywhere in this country, it has become the dictate of the day. That is why we have the economy dwindling, it is really becoming a menace, we need to actually address it. I want to join voice with President Muhamnadu Buhari to say enough of corruption, we are actually shooting ourselves in the foot if we do not put an end to this terrible cancerous phenomenon and just change our orientation towards it.
You are a politician, lawyer and journalist, what is your take on death sentence being proposed for offenders of the proposed hate speech law currently under works at the National Assembly?
I have mixed feelings concerning it, it is okay to make it a felony, not death sentence, that will be too grievious a penalty. We have to also respect the human rights law on persons. This is not to say it is a good thing to encourage hate speech. Hate speech also can be a misdemeanour, it can be character killing, it can destroy, it can pull down anything. So this is not to say it should be encouraged, of course it should be discouraged, but not to say that people found culpable should be given death sentence. I think that, for me, it is too ambiguous a law. It should be made a felony with stiff punishment, the penalty should be given but not to the extent of saying death penalty, that is my opinion.
If you say that about hate speech, will you support the idea of death sentence for those convicted of corruption especially looting the treasury?
Yes, any day, any time. Whatever punishment the lawmakers can come up with for people found to be corrupt, no matter how grievious and ambiguous it is, i will go for it, i will buy it, i will support it.
‘Women have a lot of challenges becoming whatever they want to be. You will see that women involvement in politics is really not favourable in this part of the world, Africa. But, when it comes to Nigeria, we are not doing good in terms of putting women forward in politics. Its been branded as men’s club and that is totally not acceptable’
Leave a Reply