Rep. Kayode Akiolu (APC- Lagos ) says he will support a bill thar will ban children of public servants from attending private schools, if it includes politicians.
The lawmaker said that such a bill should make everybody put in their best interests for national development.
He made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.
Akiolu represents the Lagos Island II constituency of Lagos state in the 10th National Assembly.
NAN recalls that the House of Representatives passed for first reading, a bill seeking to prohibit public and civil servants, including their immediate families, from patronising private schools and healthcare facilities in Nigeria.
The bill was sponsored by Mr Godwin Ogah, lawmaker representing Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia.
Akiolu said: “First things first, I hold a balanced view; what I mean is a balanced view on both sides.
“We are creating a democratic country, which is open, freedom of association, and freedom of movement.
“However, on the other side, it is presently a proposed bill; maybe the benefit of the bill is to make sure that civil servants put in all the best.
“Also, if I am to support the bill, I would also want it to include all public servants, which includes us, the politicians.”
According to him, that is when the country’s education will be top-notch, world-class, saying, “Because my child is there, the Bank Secretary’s child is there, the President’s child is there.
“We have nowhere but our country. If they amend it to include children of politicians, I am in support 100 per cent,“ he said.
He said that the support also included visiting the country’s hospitals, saying the nation’s healthcare required investing in, to arrest medical tourism.
“We need to go back to the good old days when Saudi Arabia and some other countries sent their people to Nigeria, including the Saudi royal family.
“In the 60s, and 70s, the Saudi royal family were coming to invest in Ibadan to get treatment. Later, there was a brain drain, and they decided to take our doctors over to Saudi Arabia, in the 80s and mid-90s.
“There is always a reversal; the way people go to India, and different countries of the world, is the way they will start coming to Nigeria.
“So, I think its high time we looked inwards, into our country, “ Akiolu said. NAN
