Hon. Isiaka Kazeem Tunde is a member representing Oyo East/Oyo West state constituency and the Chairman House Committee on Culture & Tourism in the Oyo State House of Assembly. He spoke with Parrot Xtra’s House correspondent, KUNLE GAZALI about his committee’s plans to repackage culture and tourism in the state as well as the state of things at the Oyo State owned Cultural Centre, Ibadan. Enjoy:
You recently moved a motion on the floor of the House concerning the Water Corporation of Oyo State and water supply in the state, what prompted such motion?
Every grassroot person must be able to identify the needs of his people and the needs of its constituency, so, it is on this note that we decided that there is need to move a motion to ensure that our people have access to pipe borne water. That is why I presented a motion to allow the House and honorable members to deliberate on it and proffer solutions to problems associated with water supply in the state.
So, what is your assessment of the state of Water Corporation in terms of service delivery?
We found that what is presently on ground as far as water supply in the state is concerned is nothing to write home about. Absolutely nothing is working across the length and breadth of the state.
What is the House planning to address the issue?
The focus of the House is to implore the state government to try as much as possible to look into the matter and make water accessible to meet the demands of our people throughout Oyo State. The issue of borehole or what have you should be a thing of the past; there is need for pipe borne water in the state.
Oyo State participated in the 2019 National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) in Edo State and rounded off in sterling performance, emerged 5th out of 29 states that participated, as the Chairman, House Committee on Culture and Tourism, how do you plan to sustain the achievement?
Well, when you look at the past four or five years – at least you will see that Oyo State has not been participating in any festival because there was no budgetary allocation for such by the past administration. So, it is the present administration in the state that is trying as much as possible to rekindle the past glory of the state as far as culture and tourism are concerned. The state came 5th in the outing and that was a good start, the last festival we attended, Abuja Festival, Oyo State came 4th, and ever since then, we have not appeared in any festival until this recent one we attended in Edo State and that it was a good development and good outing for us.
Tell us about your committee’s plans towards the development of culture and tourism in the state?
We have been doing our best to make sure the recent achievements are sustained and also charting new course for the next level. As part of our oversight functions, we went to the Cultural Centre, Mokola recently just to see for ourselves the true position of things there. When you get to the Cultural Centre you will know that our heritage has gone, nothing is on ground, the level of decadence is enormous, it is only the structure that is remaining, almost everything there are in very bad conditions! A lot of effort is needed to bring back our heritage because that beautiful edifice is our heritage. We have to start a serious sensitization on the importance of Yoruba culture and tradition in our society. And to achieve that, one of the tools to be put in place is the Cultural Centre, which is the home of arts and culture in the state.
In what way would say you have impacted on your constituency since you came on board?
You must not forget the fact that we are here to make laws, but nevertheless, we are trying our best to make sure that we give back to the people who have given us the mandate, to let them feel the presence of government, dividends of democracy you may want to call it. Recently, we distributed free uniforms to over 2000 pupils in our primary schools across my constituency, this is just the a tip of iceberg because we have just started, we have a lot in our pipeline that we are going to introduce once the fund is available.
What are your parting words and message to the people of your constituents?
I don’t have much to say than to appreciate them, their efforts and the support they have been giving so far, we are Oliver Twist, we will continue to ask for more. I must also add that they still have roles to play because we need their cooperation in order to achieve more.
