Experience is key in legislative business- Agunbiade

The immediate past Majority Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade has emphasised the need for Nigerians to attach importance to experience in the legislative arm of government.

Agunbiade, who represented Ikorodu Constituency 1 in the Assembly from 2007 to 2023, said this while addressing journalists covering the assembly.

He added that the more a legislator stays in office the better for the society and his constituency, saying that he enjoyed his stay in the assembly, while it lasted.

“I love legislation and I enjoyed every bit of my stay in the assembly. It’s unfortunate that our society is yet to come to terms with the rules of the legislature, the more you stay in the legislature the better for legislation and the better for the society.

“You get to know more by being a legislator. But our people still see legislature as where you just go for one or two terms and go back to your constituency.

“This is a waste of resources because you are trained and the training should show in your performance, in the type of law you make, in the quality of laws you make and in your focus.

“Here they see it as turn by turn thing, you have been there for so long. We went to the state of Illinois in the United States of America and we were told that the Speaker of their House of Representatives had been there for about 24 terms and a term is not one year.

“He has become a guru and he could say anything about the legislature. There are some people in some developed countries that have been there for upward of 24 or 30 years and so on, they are authorities in the field.

“So, because they have stayed there long, its a motivation for other legislators to also want to do more so that they can continue to go back and it’s the best for their country. But, here in Nigeria, once you have spent two terms, it would be very difficult for you to go for this term. They will say are you the only one there,” he said.

He commended the people of Agege Local Government for returning the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa year in year out for six terms.

Agunbiade stated that it was not easy for a person to be sent on errand by voters, adding such individual needs the confidence of the people and that Obasa is the most-experienced person in the Lagos State legislature.

He said further: “Those of us that are going, who would not be part of 10th Assembly, we have come, we have seen and we have made our marks, that cannot be erased from the history of the legislature. I only give members of the 10th Assembly best of luck.

“I would miss the house of assembly, the assembly is a public place, it’s a house of assembly for Lagosians, you are free to come in anytime. I would still be coming to watch plenary, I will be coming to participate in public hearing as long as I am in the state.

“I will only stop participating in proceedings on the floor of the House, but I will still be participating in making laws for the state because I will put my ears on the ground for notices of public hearing.”