•AJEROMI-IFELODUN Constituency
It was an exciting afternoon last week, when City People visited Lagos Lawmaker, Hon. Lukmon Olumoh, in his office at the Lagos State House of Assembly Complex, Alausa, Lagos. The one-time banker, now a 9th Assembly member, spoke to NIFE KAZEEM, on what attracted him to politics. He explained the role his father played in his becoming a politician. Enjoy the excerpts of the interview below.
What inspired you to go into Politics?
Well, I will say Service because Politics has been part of me since my youth. I do a lot of things that have to do with people. The same inspired me to join Lions International Club, where we provide service for the less privileged people.
So, my drive is to give back to the community. It was a source of encouragement for me to get into Politics and that was how I started the journey.
Have you held any political posts before now?
No!
Do you mean you don’t know anything about politics or you have not contested an election before?
Not really. Well, let me say before now, I had made several attempts to represent my constituency, Ajaromi-Ifelodun before I got a breakthrough in 2019 which made me become an elected lawmaker now. Even before my being elected, I had assisted in helping people get elected into different posts.
And under which party is that?
Not any other than our dear party All Progressives Congress (APC). All the way, it has always been.
And before now, what have you been doing?
I was a trained banker, a Financial Analyst, and a Consultant. I also ran business, international business. I imported and exported from every part of the country. Basically, those were the things I was doing before coming into politics.
So, how do you find this your new role?
Wow! Very, very challenging, demanding, sometimes sweet and sometimes very frustrating.
You are very loved by the people of your constituency – Ajero-Ifelodun. What is the secret behind this?
I will say it is based on my background. I mean my upbringing. How I received help from the people of my community from my parents.
Many people helped me along the line of growth. All of them were my mentors because I saw what they were doing, particularly to have helped. The only best way I can repay their gestures is to continue to do what I have learnt from my parents. Especially from my dad, who taught me about the essence of a human being. I happened to come from a religious background.
My father was Chief Iman of my area in Ajegunle and I know how he helped people to solve their problems. So, mostly I took my inspiration from him.
Since the beginning of the administration that will end in a few months’ time, what and what have you done for the people of your constituency?
Well, I have been lucky to come from that constituency because of the challenges that we face. You know when you are coming from somewhere like Ajeromi-Ifelodun which is popularly called Ajegunle, people are likely to look down on you.
As people know, we have challenges, and immediately got to the office, I articulated those challenges, which I have worked on. There are things I have done that are very dear to me. I have helped many women and girls, especially our mothers, putting them on business lines. I have a programme that is called Coco traders. Coco-traders is a scheme that gives money to beneficiaries, irrespective of who they are beneficiaries are allowed to pay back on their own terms and condition without interest. There are about a thousand women currently participating in the scheme. So, our mothers are happy whenever it is time for us to disburse money and loans. They are also performing. They always pay back at their own convenience. We give Coco scholarships to students and help them with their bursary allowances. We run summer school coaches for secondary education. On many occasions, I have empowered people who need me for stomach infrastructure, from the state government, I have brought a fire station to my constituency. I have also been able to facilitate the construction of more than 8 streets within my constituency in the last 3 years. Some rehabilitated. The most important of them all is at the back of Adesoro which had been in a state of disrepair for years. Now, it has been completed by the state government and I think we did a lot for the environment, clearing of canals and drainages. We organised sporting activities and took our children off the street. We just finished our Coco second edition football competition.
Many people won and they went home with monetary compensation. There is another one that I think is very dear to me. That is the (Suru Alaba) market that had been in darkness for over 12 years. I have restored light to that big market and people are happy with us about what we have done. So, that was just to mention a little bit of what we have done in the last few years that I have been in office.
Do you have any mentor in politics who inspired you into politics?
Well, my source of inspiration in politics, I don’t even want to think twice about that because I drew interest from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He is a selfless person and there is an adage that says givers never lack”.
He gives and I believe the way he gives, God is also blessing him. So, he is my mentor. He is somebody I have always appreciated in politics and I try to learn the trade through his lens. I have many of them around who are also graduates of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Leadership Institution. We have retired Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, a fantastic man. I have leaders in my Senatorial District, Baba Rabiu Adio Oluwa, Hon. Comrade Ologun Banjo, Kolawole Taiwo also Bairu Kamahdeen, Ladi Balogun, Kalejaye Ayoola, Hon. Okeowo, many of them have largely influenced what I am today.
Let’s talk about the Osun election APC lost to PDP. So in the 2023 general elections, how do you plan to win?
How do I plan on winning? I believe that to win is to continue what I am doing and what is it that I am doing. It is providing the essential things for my constituents, everyone who has one cause or the other to interact with me in times of their needs on a personal ground. I have always been on the ground to assist, in terms of bringing social infrastructure to the constituency.
I think I have done quite well. If you go over there, you can verify all I have said so far. As I said, I have my mother’s back home solidly behind me because the programme in which more than a thousand of them enjoy that facility. That is the Coco Trader Scheme, which cuts across the board.
It is for everybody. We don’t discriminate, whether you are Igbo or Yoruba, Hausa are all part of that scheme. Although, it is meant for women.
How did you grow up?
I grew up on the street of Ajegunle with lovely hardworking, religious parents, who are now of blessed memory. I was born in Ajegunle, went to primary school there, Army Children School, Apapa, and left there for Kwara State where I did my secondary school. From there, I went to Kwara State College of Technology, where I did my (A’level) I came back to the University of Lagos, where I had a degree in Banking and Finance. I went back to the same University to do M.Sc. in finance and another master’s degree in Banking and Finance and I can say God has been kind to me since I left school in the 90s.
I have worked with banks and investment firms. As I said earlier, I do consultancy tax matters and business development before I came into this office. I also have my challenges in life. I have learnt from many of them to make me what I am. I am happily married to my wife. We are blessed with children and they are doing well where they are. In a nutshell, that is Lukmoh Olumoh.
How has your background affected or impacted you?
Thank you very much for that question. People try to look down on us. They will say we are from Ajegunle, but I can tell you confidently that there is nowhere in this world that you don’t have people divided into strata. You have people in the up, you have in the middle. Even here in Ikeja, not everybody who is here is literate and not everybody here in Ikeja is also rich. So, in Ajegunle, we have many people who have done very very well. I can mention names even their professions whether as a businessman, policeman, soldier, or bank official. We have many of them. I am one of the examples in music, although Wizkid claims to come from Surulere, his father lives in Ajegunle in my constituency. So, you can see that we have produced many good people and we have taken many of them from the streets. Not all of us will go to school and come out of school and have white-collar jobs. We have also discovered talents from the football competition. We just finished about 3 weeks ago it was fantastic. We also train a lot of them on handwork and the like.
Can you tell us more about yourself, sir?
(Smile) His name is Hon. Lukman Olumoh, representing Ajeromi-Ifelodun Constituency 01, at the Lagos State House of Assembly.
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