By Blessing Onje
Senator elect for Edo South Senatorial District Barrister Neda Imasuen has reiterated that he would not take the mandate given to him by his constituents for granted.
He gave this assurance when he appeared on the Nigeria Television Authority NTA on Wednesday.
It could be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), declared the Edo State Labour Party (LP), Neda Imasuen, as winner of the South senatorial seat.
Imasuen who is a lawyer was announced winner of the contest, after defeating the two major political parties; the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Imasuen noted that he will always remember that the votes and the interests of the constituents for me brought him to the Red Chamber
He further assured that the efforts of his constituents will compensated by quality representation. “What I mean is the type of representation that actually speak to the needs of the constituents”, he added.
He also vowed to tackle unemployment, insecurity, hunger, education, health care and poverty, adding that quality legislation will go a long way to tackle these issues.
On insecurity, he believed that if every state has its own police it can effectively secure its own borders, noting that every state know where the challenges is within it’s own border.
“On health situation, like we saw during the COVID-19, we were taken aback. Our hospitals are not functional. Medical personnel leaving the country in drones in search of greener pastures because the environment here is not conducive. This is what I want the tenth senate to critically look into because having standards hospitals will benefit everyone”, he stated.
On the issue of legislative experience, he opined that there must be reasons why most senators are not returning. “Perhaps their constituents are not satisfied with their performances. The tenth senate is a senate of ideas and Senators who are very energetic and coming from different backgrounds.
Having a legislative experience is good but there’s also need to inject new ideas into their block because if it is going to be business as usual, nothing is going happen”, he mentioned.
He further mentioned that he is bringing in new perspective to the legislation as the direction the country is faced now will end in abase.
“We need to heal and it will take a collective effort for us to heal and move forward. For elected lawmakers there is a common opinion from what I have seen. We all agreed that the country is bleeding and that there is need to address that. I believe that we will be able side step the issue of tribalism, religious difference so that we can move forward”, he stated.
On the zoning of the Natiomal Assembly leadership position, he said it is the convention that the ruling party tends to have its way as to who becomes the Senate President and the Speaker which are always very contentious. “What different opposition party can do when they come together can affect this convention”.
On electoral reforms, he stated that it has to be looked into very seriously.
In it’s words: “If you look at what happened in the past election and the issues of transmission and uploading of results, we really need to look into that and correct some errors.
“Having a free and fair election will help move this country in the right direction
“The issues of electoral violence seems to be very prevalent and this can only be addressed through electoral reforms”.
He thanked his constituents for the mandate given to him to represent them at the Red Chamber.
