Law Making

Corruption including the theft of public funds, reduces resources for development, increases inequality, decreases accountability and political responsiveness, and thus produces rising frustration and hardship among citizens.

However, the sanctions against theft of public funds, are considered too weak. The weaker the sanctions, the higher the propensity to steal public funds.

Whilst the ultimate solution is the application of technology to checkmate corruption at all levels and functions, the sanctions should be stiff enough to serve as deterrent, in case technology fails or is circumvented.

I shall be proposing a bill for life jail sentence against theft of public funds.

There is the need for autonomy of Auditor General of Lagos State, to check mismanagement of public funds by the Governor, other executives and Accountant General. Also, power to appoint and sack the Auditor General, must be taken away from the Governor. The Auditor General must have the audacity to query the Governor, during or after his tenure. This can only be guaranteed via absolute independence and autonomy, in terms of appointment, disengagement and financing.

I shall be proposing a bill for  legal, administrative and financial autonomy for the office of the Auditor General of Lagos State.

Many residents are not aware of the existence of a Lagos anti-corruption agency(Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission), largely due to its ineffectiveness. That is the more reason why a former Attorney General of Lagos state and lawmakers past and present, would be investigated by EFCC ,instead of the Lagos  anticorruption agency, which is only virtually in existence on paper.

I believe strongly that the absolute independence of the Lagos Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission would immensely enhance its effectiveness and efficiency. The power to appoint the chair person of the commission should not be vested on the state governor, who would indirectly determine who to be investigated or not. The Commission should have exclusive power to determine who to be investigated, including past and current governors.

Therefore, I shall be proposing an amendment  bill for absolute autonomy and independence for the Lagos  Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission. The power to appoint or sack the chairperson would be taken from the executive governor and vested on the judicial service commission, subject to legislative approval.

Lagos State being a state of excellence and a former federal capital, is supposed to be a model to all the other states of the federation, in terms of environmental and social behavior. The "Agbero" touts are one of the major stumbling block against peace and progress in Lagos. They have taken over the function of local governments which have the constitutional responsibility to manage motor parks. Both transporters and commuters are  victims of the nefarious activities of Agberos. It is estimated that the illegal levies collected by Agberos amounts to over N300billion annually(about N822 million daily) ,which is shared at various official and unofficial levels. These are monies meant for the local governments. I shall sponsor a bill to prescribe minimum of 4years jail sentence against any illegal levy collection by motor park touts. All transport union and association activities, including membership levies, must be in tandem with global best practices.

Free tertiary education is very plausible in Lagos state. It is a monumental fallacy to suggest that tertiary education is only meant for those that can afford it. The inherent desire and natural talent to become a professional like medical doctor, engineer, lawyer, lecturer, accountant, etc, must never be restricted by affordability.

Likewise, skills acquisition centers as alternative to tertiary education, should not be the inheritance of only the less privileged .Attendance should be driven purely by passion and not poverty.

Moreover, in a developing society like ours, there is urgent and critical need to enhance high level human capacity, by providing free and Qualitative education.For instance,Lagos State can at least double medical school enrollment,to provide the much more needed medical doctors.

Free tertiary education would also contribute to reducing the current crime rate.Many of our youths engage in criminalities and immoralities such as cyber crime,kidnapping,robbery and prostitution,just to fund their education. A developing society like ours cannot afford to make education less accessible because of school fees.

Thus, I shall be proposing a bill for free tuition tertiary education for the less privileged Lagos State residents,attending Lagos state owned tertiary institutions.This would be actualised via a trust fund. The contributors to the trust fund shall include government and interested private sector and individuals. Lagos residency shall be determined by registration with LASRRA.

With estimated beneficiaries of 35,000 students and average sessional school fees of N125, 000, this amounts to just N4.4billion sessional investment in our youths and future leaders.

N4.4billion is only about 0.23% of Lagos State N1.7trillion budget. If we double our estimate to 70,000 beneficiaries, we still have 0.46% (very much less than 1%) of the budget!

Unemployment insurance benefit or Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), should be paid by the government to people who are unemployed and actively seeking work. It is part of the social security benefits system and is intended to cover living expenses while the claimant is out of work.

To be eligible for JSA, claimants must state that they are actively seeking work by filling in a Jobseeker's Agreement form and attending a New Jobseeker interview (NJI). They must also go to a job center to be established by law, every two weeks to "sign on", that is, to certify that they are still actively seeking work.

The proposed bill shall also make sure that those who meet specific eligibility requirements may receive up to 28 weeks of benefits a year. The scheme shall be funded via a contributory insurance scheme, by both the employers of labour and government.