11th June, 2012
A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Alhaji Bolaji Yusuff Ayinla, has accused politicians of enjoying the dividends of democracy at the expense of the electorate.
Ayinla made this accusation at a conference to celebrate six months of the inauguration of his BYA Ambassadors scheduled for June 12.
He accused his colleagues of waiting till election period before they do what they ought to have done earlier to alleviate the suffering of the electorate.
He said: “politicians are just five percent of the population of this country while the remaining 95 percent are the electorate. It is only this five percent that are enjoying the proverbial dividends of democracy at the detriment of the electorate that voted them into office. They made empty promises to them during campaigns and neglect them for three to four years. What they do is to host poverty alleviation for them at the expiration of their tenures so that they will vote for them again.
“These people struggled, they went through hell, some lose their lives to ensure that we get into office but what do they get in return? Nothing. They are deprieved of all basic social amenities. But when I realised this six months ago, I inaugurated the BYA Ambassadors. The aim is to supervise all my projects and maintained them as well as monitor what is lacking in each ward in my constituency and report such to me.
“During one of our surveys, we discovered about 500 wells in the whole of Mushin local government out of which only about 15 is drinkable. I know this is a serious problem to the people and the only way it can be effectively tackled is to provide drinkable water for them. As a result of this, I am providing five boreholes in each ward and this translates to 50 boreholes in all,” he said.
He disclosed that 11 out of the 50 boreholes had been inaugurated, adding that each will have a tag number that any member of the community can call anytime it is faulty and such will be replaced within 24 hours.
“It is not about providing boreholes alone, each will carry tag numbers that the community can call if there is need for repair. I will also be coming back to my constituency every three months to render account of my stewardship, to let them know what I have done in the past three months.
—Jamiu Yisa