Benson: My Legislative Agenda for Bayelsa Central

Former Speaker of Bayelsa State House of Assembly and Peoples Democratic Party’s Senatorial Candidate for Bayelsa Central, Hon Konbowei Friday Benson, talks about his desire to represent his constituents in the Red Chambers of the 10th National Assembly.

Why do you want to go to the Senate?

By the grace of God becoming a Senator is only in name.  Lawmaking is part of me, it is part of the work I have been doing over time;  I have been a counselor, I have been a legislator at the state level where I was a member of the  State House of Assembly for 12 years and out of the 12 years I became Speaker for seven years and six months, and so going to the Senate is a continuation of the law making that I have been called into, so going to the Senate is not for any reason.           The Senate is a place of law-making, it is a representative house and I want to also go to the Senate to represent my people. Representing the people to speak for them, representing the people to advocate and solicit for what is our dues, and so it is not about going to the senate with a particular interest, the interest is the area you represent, the people I represent because you have an area to protect, an area to sell, an area to make known and that is my interest and I know that I have identified quite a number of problems my people suffer and we are very far from the center and you must note that very well.

What are the unique offerings you have for the good people of Bayelsa Central Senatorial Zone?

Like I told you earlier, about 100 years of the creation of Nigeria, hardly before any of my constituents is identified or any of my communities identified or carried along in the budget of Nigeria even today carried along but Nigeria as it is today from the indices we have more than 40% of the operations of Agip and Shell from Bayelsa, and more than 30% from that wealth comes from my constituency.         My constituency cuts across three local governments and these three local governments’ areas are oil-producing communities but what is the representation? What are we known for? What is the government doing to the area? Is it in terms of education? We have only one Federal Polytechnic. We don’t even have one federal secondary school, it is three local governments and the largest senatorial District in Bayelsa and there is no federal presence. In agriculture and other areas of interest that we are not represented, we are not carried along, it calls for concern. If we are producing that level of oil wealth how many of our people are employed both in multinational companies and in the federal service, how many of our people are there? These are some of the burning issues. If you want to talk about road network interconnectivity, between community to community, between local government to local governments and states, we are not there.             These are the reasons why our people are agitated and they are carrying whatever they are carrying even though they are doing so in the wrong approach but that is the burning question, why are we not there, why are we not carried along, why are we so neglected, why should we be called names and not drawn closer to where things are happening? And so my advocacy will be in this direction; on Agriculture, employment, training and re-training, training on business on the economic activities of the land.                               

Some people say you were Hon. Seriake Dickson’s stooge when you were the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and some persons are also of the position that your ambition is backed by Governor Douye Diri, kindly give us your side of the perception and what you share with these two leaders.

Whatever anybody wants to call me or any legislator in the State House of Assembly is not out of place, any name can be conferred on us and that is the way the constitution is drafted, the constitution is drafted in the way more power is given to the chief executives of every state and so most Houses operate, I am saying this with experience, they operate at the dictates of the chief executives. I make bold to say so because as much as I know more of the powers of a state government is in the hands of the governor and the government.   So, everybody that comes into that office works towards actualising the dreams, goals, and objectives that he or she might have in mind, working along with the state government. You must be in tune and attuned with the state government and of course, the constitution does not say the state arms of government should be fighting among themselves. All arms of government the Judiciary, the Executive, or the Legislature are expected to work towards providing the desired needs of the people of that environment. So working in collaboration with the other arms of government does not mean that we are not stooges but like I said earlier, you must work with the mindset that you are working towards the betterment of your people, and if the state government is also in that direction there is nothing you will do than to work together to achieve. So long as I am of the party, I am a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Douye Diri’s name does not come when I was contesting for the primaries, now that I am the candidate of the party if Douye Diri does not support me who will he support? Douye Diri has to even lead my election, He should be the one to even lead my campaign and tell the people that this is my candidate. I am the Central Senatorial District Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party where the governor comes from so which other person should the governor support?

How do you intend to navigate through the politics of lawmaking if it happens that your bill is unpopular and your Party is a minority in the senate?

As far as bill making is concerned, a bill could be unpopular today and later become popular in life, it is all about time and the philosophy you intend to drive in the bill, so being a minority representative I should be able to present my bills in a manner everybody will understand that I’m not coming from the point of creating arguments and cause disaffection among the other ethnic nationalities. When I was in the state house of assembly as a speaker, I sent one of our member to be trained at the national assembly as a negotiator one that would be able to organise all the factors and so I believe that I will be able to make friends with other legislators so my bills will not suffer in lost but in case they lost I will be able to fight till they come back to the limelight.

Kindly Give us an insight about your Manifesto?

My manifestoes first, is the welfare of the people, the environment I belong, that I come from, the promotion of the environment to become what it ought to be, every environment has its own peculiar challenges and I know my environment has various challenges. When we went round with the governor, we were able to identify communities that had no were to step their foots within the community, and so we had to stay inside the speed boat to address the people and that becomes the most immediate need of the people and so in all of my wish and discussion my manifestor first is that how will I attend to these needs. But there is a caveat for us to meander through for the people to remain whenever this challenge comes up from time to time. My manifesto will be first to improve on our environment because you must first of all have a good environment for the people to live in before you can effectively talk on providing their educational needs, security needs, agricultural and economic needs. As part of human development and capacity building I will take on the youths because that has been what I have been doing, those who are handicaps particularly with payment of certain fees in schools, all of that will be done and in a way I will encourage agriculture because while we were coming back from the village I was telling one of my friend that do you know the bigger cities are depending on the smaller hamlets. The smaller villages and communities that form food security for the cities. So, we will encourage agriculture so that they will able to improve not only improve in their welfare but also in their wellbeing. I believe there are some empowerment programmes that will come up in the area of health, because health challenge in my constituency is very peculiar, all of these things I am telling you is not as if I am the one to provide because if I venture to say I am the one to provide I am deciving myself, I will collaborate with other agencies and the state government. I have earlier said the legislator is an advocate and a solicitor, he is the mouth piece of the people, he is not the provider of these facilities. It is the neglects of the executives of our environment and our people that has prompted our people to request social amenities such as roads, health facilities and educational facilities from a law maker who is an ordinary advocate who should only be provided with his well without to stand effectively in the course of his duties, he is not one that will be building this or that, because these things are not forth coming to our people as it were, the messenger is now the person to carry all these things on his head to come back because the people at the grassroots don’t see the president or governor and the executive, it is you who goes to meet them to ask for their votes that will carry all the burdens and that has been the question. And what will you do if not to speak up what my people want and in a way put it into policy paper for the chief executive to be drawn to the people, and my style of leadership is that of collaboration.