Babajimi Benson:Vignettes of a Political Life

Hon. Babajimi Adegoke Benson, the lawmaker representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency and Chairman, House Committee on Defence in the House of Representatives, is a lawyer, an astute politician and management expert. For over three decades, he has become a shining light due to his exemplary leadership. An exceptional politician with a rare passion for public service, he was thrown into national space when he became the youngest to have headed Lagos State Development  and Property Corporation at 31 and held sway  for 12 years. Youthful in  thoughts, magnificent in ideas

for driving the nation, the Ikorodu-born  politician in a recent encounter, tells  Funke Olaode about  his career

 and political trajectory

He  is from the renowned Benson family of Ikorodu in Lagos State who as one of the early political figures, has remained in national consciousness up till date. The late T.O.S Benson was a big wig in the Nigerian polity.  As a child, his uncle’s larger-than-life image has always enthralled him as he often witnessed him dialoguing with the likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Lateef Jakande and politicians of that era about politics and state of the nation.

While his little mind was being unconsciously groomed, his political trajectory was also unfolding. Still, it took almost three decades to take shape. Having observed that lawyers’ do exploits as politicians, he first studied law and later embraced politics. Today, he is one of the youngest politicians to have emerged from the centre of excellence.

Welcome to the world of Hon. Babajimi Benson, a lawmaker representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency, and Chairman House Committee on Defence. Before his foray into politics, Hon. Benson had demonstrated his leadership and administrative quality at age 31 when he joined the  Lagos State Development  and Property Corporation (LSDPC) where he held sway for  eight  years. Today, he remains the youngest to have held such public office in Lagos State.

Born on March 30, 1972 in Ikorodu, Hon. Benson is a graduate of Lagos State University (LASU) where he studied law graduating with an LLB in 1994.  He would later attend the Nigerian Law School in 1995 where he earned a B.L. His insatiable knowledge took him to London Guildhall University to obtain an LLM in Comparative International Business Law, graduating with a Merit. In 2002, he attended the Warwick Business School (UK) and obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association and International Bar Association.

Benson has had an illustrious career in both the public and private sector. His outstanding working career commenced in 1997-1998 as a Legal Officer in the law firm of Babatunde Benson (SAN). Between 2000 and 2001, he was appointed a Legal Officer in the General Counsel Division at the United Nations Headquarters, New York. From 2001 to 2003, he was an in-house Legal Counsel at Ecobank Plc after which he moved to Lead Bank PLC as Deputy Manager (Legal) between 2003 and 2004.

His career progression saw him joining Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) as the Company Secretary (Strategy, Legal and Corporate Governance). Due to the primacy of his role in LSDPC, he was appointed as a Non-Executive Director at the Lekki Freetrade Zone in 2007, a position he held till 2014.

But like a golden fish which doesn’t have a hiding place, his diligence and brilliance sought him when in the 2015 National Assembly elections, he was elected to represent Ikorodu Federal Constituency of Lagos State in the House of Representatives on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC). Here, he went into politics fully.

Following his sterling competence and parliamentary excellence, Benson was re-elected into the House of Representatives to extend his quality representation and towering performance from June 2019 till date, still on the platform of the same political party where he currently holds the ticket for the third term in the forthcoming elections.

Youthful in thoughts and magnificent in positive ideas that will drive the nation, Hon. Benson is an exemplar for the Nigerian youths due to his consistency and remarkable exploits in the public service over the last three decades. As a parliamentarian, he is driven by a vision to make landmark impacts in the areas of youth empowerment, access to business funding for young entrepreneurs, security of lives and property, and healthcare.

Benson is one of the lawmakers that have shaped the ninth House of Representatives by largely influencing the emergence of the current leadership of the House. Furthermore, he has sponsored several impactful bills while his motions in the National Assembly are carefully thought out and crafted to reflect the mood and needs of the people and the nation. “It wasn’t a misstep going into politics. I come from a political savvy family and I myself love politics. I like finding solutions that is why I studied law. A lawyer’s job is to find solutions for different people.”

Apart from his responsibility as a lawmaker, he has equally given back to the society through his non-governmental organisation called iCare Foundation, his social intervention and constituency engagement platform with the people of Ikorodu Federal Constituency. The foundation has four core departments that handle varying outreaches namely: Startup Ikorodu, iCare Job Portal, iCare Food Bank and Back to School/Road Grading. Through his foundation, he has continued to impact lives.

Looking sophisticated, polished and calm in his grey suits, Hon. Benson caught the image of a youthful politician as he walked briskly into the gathering where he encountered this reporter. There was no aura about him or a retinue of aides to draw unnecessary attention. 

“This is me and who I am,” he said casually. “And of course, it is a reflection of my personality. I am calm and I always pray for the grace of God to put things under control.”

The Ikorodu born lawmaker has spent the last seven years making laws in the ninth National Assembly.

“As said earlier, I was drawn into politics as a child. As I grew older, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was a catalyst into my political trajectory. He made me the Deputy Managing Director and company legal adviser of LSDPC. I was 31 years old.  Till today, I am the number two legal adviser of any parastatal in Lagos State. LSDPC is the biggest parastatal in Lagos State. I spent 12 years on that seat and when I left I was still the youngest ever to have occupied that seat.   I started at 31 and left the seat at 42. Since then I came into the House of Representatives taking over from Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.”

To say that Hon. Benson is a ‘die-hard’ fan of Tinubu would be an understatement.

“You mean Jagaban?, he asked rhetorically. “I used the biblical phrase to describe him as Samuel. You know who Samuel was in the bible? So, I remember a story in the bible where they told Saul, ‘if you want to find your father’s donkey go and look for a prophet called Samuel.’ When Saul went to see Samuel, Samuel the prophet said, ‘This is your donkey but I am not here to give your donkey, I am going to make you the King  over Israel. So, that is what Asiwaju does. He always looks for people who have a mission and vision and he elevates them and gives them pride of place. And he has done that to a lot of people. Now, he wants to do it in Nigeria. He wants to take Nigeria on his shoulder and take it to the height that it truly belongs. So, he has done it for the Vice President, for ministers, for governors, and he has done it for little me. He has done it for speaker, senate president and so on. So, I believe he has the right vision to take us to the next level.”

As Chairman Committee on Defence, his take on security is ‘you don’t use security to kill poverty but finding a lasting solution is key. For him, climate change and lack of employment are the roots of human insurgency in the nation. “This has also exacerbated a lot of crises and caused insecurity.  The economy is shrinking, the world is volatile and uncertain like I said earlier on. So, things are a bit difficult for everyone. Once there are  idle hands, security will thrive.”

In his view, the way forward is to improve on basic social amenities and infrastructural development.

“They say that America is rich. America is rich because they have infrastructure and its infrastructure has made the people rich. Power must be fixed. Road must be built.  You know for every one million people, you need 1000 megawatt.  We have not been able to provide electricity for our people in a way that it will help them out of poverty. Because there is a nexus between power creation, electricity and how  to develop your country. The power infrastructure has been privatized; GENCO, Discos, I am not sure those companies have been living up to expectations. Those are things we should look critically at to ensure that value is added and at the end of the day our youths are taken out of poverty.”

As Chairman House Committee on Defence, and the recent report of oil theft leading to 400,000 of crude oil being syphoned everyday was worrisome.  Hon. Benson noted there has been a failure of intelligence when it comes to that.

“There is an intelligent failure. It also has to do with the community providing actionable intelligence for the armed forces to do certain things. Again I always say that a lot of assignments or roles given to service people are not necessarily what they ought to be doing. Tracing pipelines, I believe it is a police, civil defence portfolio. It is not something that the Army will be chasing somebody stealing crude oil. If the crude oil gets into territorial waters the Navy maybe brought in but getting the trunk, the network should have been detected by the police or the civil defence.  But it is also very sad that a 4 kilometer long pipeline has been used to syphon petrol or crude oil from Nigeria to high sea. So I think any means necessary, any how we can help cure or stop that using the locals, I think it is part of intelligence sharing. The community policing thing that we have been talking about.”

As 2023 elections approach, Hon. Benson is confident that with all the moves so far by the INEC in terms of technology knowhow, Nigeria will be a shining example in the continent of Africa.

“We have four presidential candidates in Atiku Abubakar, Tinubu, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and we have Peter Obi. These are people who have huge followership, whose members believe each one of them can win. With that alone, the excitement is there, the hope is there. I don’t believe there will be any violence.  And if it eventually rears its ugly head, I don’t believe that will be enough to nullify or cause the extension of the 2023 elections. “I am hopeful for and in a better Nigeria,” he said.