Front line runner for the position of Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, on Friday, unveiled his agenda for the Ninth Senate if elected Senate President.
Tagged “A National Assembly that works for Nigeria: Proposed legislative agenda for the 9th Senate,” the document contained his vision and mission statement.
Fourty two senators-elect including five Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), attended the event to identify with the aspiration of the Lawan to emerge the President of the 9th Senate.
The Yobe North Senator said that the unveiling of the legislative agenda, which started on Friday will end in 2023 at the end of the Ninth Senate.
The unveiling of the agenda, he said, is basically to tell Nigerians the focus and the engagements of the 9th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He said that the agenda has two segments, one to ensure that senators perform optimally and effectively for the progress of the country.
Secondly, what individual senators think about the country and how to make the country great and purposeful.
Lawan said that his vision is to unite the Senate as an institution by ensuring inclusiveness, justice, fair play and respect for all political parties that are represented in the Senate.
He underscored the need to have a consultative and a focused bi-cameral legislature whose sole preoccupation is the business of Nigeria and the welfare of Nigerians.
The Senate President hopeful said that they are conscious of the challenges the country faces but not unmindful that of the fact that the challenges will not be easy to address.
For him, the journey to address the myriads of challenges facing the country requires sacrifice, perseverance, determination and brotherhood.
He was however convinced that “once we remain focused and united, we can do a lot.”
He said, “We are faced with new security challenges. In 2015 when the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari came, the major security challenge was Boko Haram. Boko Haram was squarely confronted and substantially decimated. With new security challenges, we must all think out of the box how we can intervene with experts who know, how to intervene through legislative support.”
On the economy, he said, they intend to provide necessary legislative intervention to grow the economy.
He also stressed the compelling need to ensure early passage of the appropriation bill to create the much needed stable budget circle.
The issue of not passing the budget on time, he said, does not augur well for the country.
He said noted that from budget presentation by President Buhari to budget defence by ministers and the processing of budget document, will have a time frame.
Lawan who recognised the fact that it takes two to tangle said that the Executive arm, especially ministers, should be brought on board to defend the budget of their ministries on time.
He expressed optimism that the Executive arm would be prepared to work with the legislature to stabilize the budget circle of the country.
On education, Lawan regretted that the country has the enviable record of having the highest out of school children in the world.
He noted that though the exact number of out of school children in the country is not known, the figure would be established, while strenuous effort would be made to reduce the number.
Assuring that “we must make government work” he lamented that “out of school children are not only a social problem for us, they are also a security challenge to the country.”
He said that out of school children are readily available to be recruited as Boko Haram insurgents and kidnappers, they create other security challenges.
He said, “We have to make the difference. In 2013, we should be able to say that we have done well. We have to put on our thinking cap to address the challenges facing our country.
“The economy has been growing at two or three percent. Our economy need to be better than that. Our economy has to be diversified to create more jobs for our people.
“Kidnapping has upstream and downstream sectors. Those who kidnap are different from those who negotiate for ransom. We have to deal with the issue.
“The Nigeria economy must be diversified. We have to look at the entire value chain from growing to marketing.
“There will be no dichotomy between parties in the Senate. There is already amalgamation in our fold here. There are PDP, APC and YPP. With this kind of consensus, we will go far.
He said that their objective is to make Nigeria an economic growth hub, and the most sought-after business destination in Africa.
According to him, this will be achieved through legislative and policy coordination with the Executive Arm of the Federal Government.
He noted that necessary reforms and legal instruments that will promote diversification and investment in the critical (real and service) sectors of the Nigerian economy will be introduced.
Lawan said that priority will be given to a legal regime that facilitates ease of doing business with the view to catelysing double digit growth and rapid employment generation.
“We are determined to achieve. We are not assuming that it will be easy. We want to do every thing in the national interest. We will relate with the House of Representatives. Already we have our Speaker (Femi Gbajabiamila) and Deputy Speaker (Wase).
“We will have a cordial relationship with the executive arm. A rancorous relation everybody suffers.
“Nigerians expect us to do every thing possible to make life better for them. We have no reason not to relate well with the other arm. Where we have to disagree, we agree on national interest. Nigerians will always be the winners.”
The agenda also includes institutional diagnosis, legislative processes, bill progression tracking and monitoring, enhancement of internal operations of committees, committees and agenda setting, operational efficiency and compliance, performance of committees, funding of committees, communication and public relations, strengthening of oversight functions and capacity building for senators and NASS staff.
Others are staff welfare and improved industrial relations, planning and budget process reform, open NASS and budget transparency, ICT-enabled Senate, internet and electronic noticeboards, digitalisation and archiveing of records and inter-chamber coordination.
Strengthening external relations, presidency and federal government, state government/House of Assembly, media, and general public are also part of the agenda.
Senators attended the unveiling including five PDP senators and one YPP senator.
The senators, one after another, took turns to introduce themselves and pledge their support for Lawan’s aspiration.
The PDP Senators at the event included Senators Abba Moro, (Benue south) Mathew Urhoghide (Edo South) Cliford Ordia (Edo central), Gershom Bassey (Cross River south) and Lawali Anka (Zamfara West)
Lawan began the event by commending Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje who stepped down for him on Thursday for “the show of leadership, patriotism, sacrifice and commitment.”
Chairman, Ahmad Lawan campaign group, Senator Abdullahi Yahaya flagged off the event by declaring that their vision will be to rise above the challenges they met.
He said, “Our job is to make the Ninth Senate a beacon of progress and a beacon that all Nigerians will be proud of. In this journey, there is no junior or senior. All of us are equal. We will work to uplift Nigeria and Nigerians.”
Some of the APC Senators-elect that attended included Senators Olubunmi Adetunmbi, Bamidele Opeyemi, Orji Uzor Kalu, Ovie Omo-Agege, Francis Alimikhena, and Ahmed Baba Kaita.
Comments
Post a Comment