Hon. Tolu Akande Recounts Achievements In Oluyole, Nigerians In Diaspora

Hon. Tolulope Akande Sadipe K, member of the Federal House of Representatives, representing Oluyole Federal Constituency and Chairman of the House Committee on Diaspora, has recounted her achievements to Oluyole Federal Constituency and Nigerians in the diaspora since her emergence as HoR member in the National Assembly.

She made the achievements known on Saturday, October 3rd when featured on a live radio program in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

When asked about the reason why she has been sent to the National Assembly to represent her constituency, and how it’s been with her for over a year, she responded;

“When it comes to the issue of laws, I have tried to pull my weight as much as I can. As you all know, I’m a first-timer but one of the bills I have pushed for is the diaspora voting bill that will enable Nigerians all over the world to participate in our elections. It’s going to be implemented when the law is passed. It’s going to be implemented in stages because modalities have to be gotten right.

“It has only been a year that I have been there. It has taken me this long to collaborate with my other colleagues and Nigerians in the diaspora to ensure that this law would work for everybody effectively.

“We have done the first reading, the second reading should be done in two weeks and hopefully, I pray it’s passed by other colleagues in the House so Nigerians can participate.”

Speaking further on other achievements made, she reiterated that she has moved several motions while on the floor of the House.

According to her, “I have moved a motion to ascertain the diaspora remittances because there’s this discrepancy between CBN and the World Bank. Because of the investigative hearings we had, CBN has now changed their figures. The investigation is still ongoing, we haven’t concluded it but the CBN has started moving closer towards the World Bank figures. At the end of the investigation which we should finish in the next few months, I know we would get a positive outcome.”

Speaking further, she said: “I moved a motion on the Ghana issue, an incessant attack on our people in Ghana and we’ve mandated the executive arm of government that’s involved with that, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, to do more about ensuring that our people in that sector in Ghana are protected.

“I moved a motion to tackle sexual harassment of children and minus. You keep hearing cases about the rape of minors and women. So I was involved in moving a motion for that. I moved a motion on Xenophobia in South Africa.”

Also reiterating the petitions that she has moved on the floor of the House, she said:

“I moved a petition on the floor of the house, regarding the Ijebu Igbo, Olomi, Ibadan road which really has been a disappointing case. I’ve ensured that the petition committee is investigating it and it’s been ongoing for a while, hoping that we can bring it to a fruitful conclusion.

“I also moved a petition on the floor regarding four missing Nigerians that the Nigeria Police sent on an assignment to Cameroon and Gabon. These people haven’t been heard from in the past four years. The Nigeria Police Force has refused to tell their families what has happened to these men who disappeared while on duty. So I had to move a motion on that.”

Hon. Tolu Akande spoke on a murder case that involves a young Nigerian accused of murdering a policeman in Saudi Arabia and the lackadaisical attitude of the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi towards the issue.

According to her, “Also, there’s a very sensitive case that involves life. The case of Sulaimon Olufemi who’s on death row in Saudi Arabia for murder. Unfortunately, this young guy has continued to maintain his innocence. And when you look at the issues surrounding the case it looks more like the young man is innocent because he was made to sign a document in the Arabic language which he doesn’t speak. 

“I believe our Embassy in Saudi Arabia if they had come forth at the time when this case happened at the beginning 18 years ago when the young man was 21 or 18. If they had come forth and done what an Embassy is supposed to do, that young man would not be on death roll.

“Now, time is quickly elapsing and we are not seeing the actions that this Embassy should be doing. I wrote a letter again about a month ago, I got a reply about two weeks ago that they are still saying the same thing, not knowing that I’m also discussing with people in Saudi Arabia and information I’m getting is that they need to move quickly to negotiate because the young man who died at the time, a policeman, his daughter is going to be 18, and she can pardon this young man. If she agrees to pardon this young man, he will not be executed.

“As I said again, we can make laws but the executive arm of government (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is supposed to implement the laws and they are supposed to supervise the missions abroad. so the case of this particular young man, I’ve been spending a lot of time on it because we need to put pressure where pressure needs to be put so this young man who, most probably, is innocent, looking at the case from an independent perspective.”

Speaking on how she has been able to influence development in Oluyole Federal Constituency via projects, empowerments and federal activities, Hon. Tolu Akande Sadipe made mention that she would be commissioning blocks of 3 classrooms in two different schools in Oluyole on Sunday, October 4th.

She relayed that there is an ongoing construction of classrooms in Longe Basic school and Muslim Basic school, to be commissioned in four to six weeks to come.

According to her, she has facilitated 30 federal employments for members of Oluyole constituency, she empowered over 500 women with different types of equipment, and donated materials for the construction of a bridge linking Lako and Abeko communities.

Finally, she mentioned that there is already an assessment of 13 boreholes for 13 communities and transformers for 16 communities in Oluyole, noting that the installation would begin soon.