Honourable Samson Monday Dikko, is a member of Kaduna State House of Assembly, representing Jaba Constituency .In this interview with DAILY NEWSTIME, the Lawmaker speaks on his plans for his constituents, why he helps the widows and also wants to sponsor a bill banning cell phones in primary and post primary schools. Excerpts:
What informed your decision to contest?
What basically propelled me to contest and work as one of the lawmakers in Kaduna State House of Assembly is the passion to work hand in hand with Kaduna State government to promote good governance. Every individual has aims, objectives for doing certain things, but for me it the passion to help better humanity. My call to service is call to humanity. Though my function is limited to making laws; moving motions in the Assembly, I will continue to do my best to help the poor and needy. Of course, we know that any other thing is just an added advantage. Just because we have human feelings, we love human beings, you see how people are suffering, so you want to help them, you want to empower them.
What specific promises did you make during your campaign?
I remember during my campaign, I didn’t promise anything more than to at least sponsor a bill every year throughout my tenure as legislature in the Kaduna State House of Assembly.
What will be your development priority if you the opportunity to promote any?
We have lots of untapped mineral resources in Jaba land. All these things can’t be done as individuals without the help of the government. And then who will be the voice of Jaba, who will speak for us, who will go us .We are looking for the Moses, we are looking Isaiah. When the people of old were looking for who will go for them, they cried out and Isaiah came out and said “here I am”. As it is now, I am the voice in Jaba. Jaba speaks through me, they hear through me, they do everything virtually through be me. So, I promise to speak for their development needs.
Lawmakers are expected to sponsor motions, do you have any for now?
I have a motion that, which have been submitted and approved by the Speaker .Any moment from now, it will be in the order paper of the House. As soon as that is scheduled, we are going to move a motion banning the use of cell phones in primary and post primary schools, because this has affected the standard of education and the reading culture of our pupils and students. The use of handsets and talking about Google and other social media platforms has grossly affected reading habit .Our people don’t research again and that is why the patronage for library has dropped seriously. People who patronise the libraries now from 100 per cent has dropped to five per cent because of handsets. And the students hardly read .You discover that a teacher is in the class and a student is busy chatting and browsing. And when teacher asked them questions, they just google and find answers .So he or she doesn’t engage or take his brain for answers. Of course that is why most graduates today can’t defend their results. You have graduates that can’t make or construct good sentence. You have graduates that can’t write simple application letters, formal letters or any form essay .It is really worrisome .How do we arrest this situation? I believe we have to start from the grassroots, which is the foundation, that is, the primary and post primary schools.
If the foundation of the building is faulty it can never stand .if we have the support of the masses and put it into action, we would not only recover the lost glory of education, but also have good leaders for tomorrow.
Recently, you distributed food items that widows, what informed that action?
What informed that action is the need to help people, especially those in dares need of food and cash donations to people of my constituency. I bought three hundred bags of corn, 200 hundred bags of flour and maize and all for widows. These are people I am so passionate about .If a man and his wife are finding it difficult to cater for daily bread, how much more of a single mother, who has many children in school? And of course, this is a season, when people are really hungry, especially now that most of crops have gone back to the farm, till maybe September or October, when people are expecting to harvest .Most farmers in the village are very very hungry so, I look at the little resources made available within my reach, let me share with them, let them tap from the blessings. More so, that before I resume office, I want them to pray for me. More to come, because I have already dedicated myself to service to humanity. I pray to God that he gives to me so that, I give to others. I want to be a blessing to my generation.
How do you intend to sustain this gesture and empower your people?
To achieve all these I mentioned, we have to support the Governor of the State, Malam Nasir El-rufai .He has lots of policies on ground and he needs our support to move Kaduna forward, most especially in the area of education. We are predominantly farmers in Jaba, so what my people need now is fertilizer and for those who are into mechanised farming, they have a lot to do and how we encourage them. And of course, we have to inform the Governor who is passionate about agriculture too and to make sure we have sufficient food for the people in the State. So, we are making provision for fertilizer for farmers to easily access them. Of course, the Kaduna State Government has subsidized fertilizer and to enable farmers afford all necessary farm inputs for food sufficiency and possibly export to other countries.
Members of Jaba constituency have not made mistake to vote me as their representative in the Kaduna State House of Assembly. They have gotten a “Messiah” who is ready to work round the clock to bring sustainable development and purpose of unity in Jaba local government. This was part of the reasons, when I visited the Jaba Council Chairman, he is from APC and I am from PDP but I made him understand that it is not time for politics, not time for campaign. Campaign and politics have come and gone, now what we should concentrate on is how to encourage development and unity of Ham land entirely, regardless of party affiliations. What I know is that we are from one family with the same norms and beliefs .So we must work together for the progress of our land.
Have been appointed into Committee?
The speaker is yet to committees, but once it is done everyone will know the Committee he belongs to.
How do ensure that a lawmaker from the opposition party, you work to promote good governance and guide against the unnecessary friction between the lawmakers be and the Executive arm of government?
In the State House of Assembly, we don’t politicise policies of government. We are one big family there, we don’t talk about PDP or APC, we talk about progress and development of Kaduna State.
We are the government and so don’t talk about what individual lawmaker will contribute to the well-being of Kaduna State. What are those policies that if you bring on table they will bring sustainable development in Kaduna State, and we talk about how to support the Governor to succeed. If there is anything disastrous that will affect the well-being of Kaduna it is the duty of the House whether you’re from APC or PDP to throw it out. We don’t implement policies that will affect the masses. We legislate on policies that will bring development, especially economy, security and other relevant sectors of the State
The unity of purpose of Kaduna State. The main policies that will affect the masses .We legislate on policies that will bring development and unity of the State.
We you talk about religion you can’t run away from it, nobody talks to you to leave your religion for another. The Speaker works with everyone in the House. Since I entered the House, the Speaker has never shown any difference .He is not bordered about party affiliations, he calls me his friend.
He is very humble and complete gentleman par excellent, who will not tell you to join his party, but only requests for your support and loyalty to make laws that will help move Kaduna State forward.
He wants you as a lawmaker to be dedicated to your job. He treats you as a colleague. We don’t know anything about political differences in Kaduna State House of Assembly. We are one big family ready to work together to promote Kaduna State.
Security challenge with kidnapping moving from Abuja/Kaduna road to Kachia -Kafachan road, what are you doing to nip this before it gets out of hand?
It calls for concern, because without security there will be no development. So It’s something that we must not shy away from. All hands must be on deck to tackle it and find lasting solutions. All security agencies must be on the alert with proactive measures to nip it in the bud. Of course, we have to cry out and solicit support of our Governor, who is the Chief Security Officer to contain it. He is the one that has the power, our own is to lobby and inform him about the situation over there. If we don’t tell him, he is not a spirit that he will know everything. As a member representing my constituency, how do I get feedback without security along the road to my place.
