Member representing Dawakin Kudu/Warawa Federal Constituency of Kano State in the House of Representatives, Mustapha Dawaki, has decried poor return of lawmakers after their primary elections.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Dawaki, who returned unopposed on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), regretted this would negatively affect the quality of legislation.
He rued the primary election process, which he said was responsible for most of the serving lawmakers losing out.
He said if the President had signed the Electoral Act amendment the situation could have been averted.
“I have been here since 7th Assembly. I came here in 2011. The quality of legislation that we used to have is diminishing. So in 2015 and 2019 whenever you have a high turnover of lawmakers that are coming back, because when you come back as a new member you have to start afresh, it may even take you the whole period of four years to learn how legislation processes are done. So by the time you now spend one term and learn this and, God forbid, you do not come back somebody would come and start running again.
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“In other jurisdictions where they know the value of democratic processes, they allow members of parliament to stay much longer than we do here. I think it is something that people have to be educated and sensitized about. I think when we have this kind of thing, it would really assist. When you go to the US and UK you see someone throughout his career spend like 40 or 50 years in Parliament. That is why they have quality legislation,” he said.
The lawmaker said he was returned unopposed due to the efforts he had made in improving the lives of his people, and promised to do more.
“The same reason that they have to give me an automatic ticket is the same I would continue doing because I put a lot of infrastructure in my local government in the area of road construction, water supply, agriculture, health and sports, empowerment, job creation and so many other things I have done in my constituency.
“If you go to my constituency, there is no single main road in my town that is not tarred and followed by solar street lights. When you come to healthcare, I constructed a brand new hospital in my second local government which cost almost N1 billion with equipment. I also built a mini-stadium where you can play any competition. Even Kano State uses it. I have also influenced five Federal Government agencies to the area. Each of them have created jobs there. I have secured employment for more than 500 of my constituents. All these are verifiable. I do not disconnect myself from my people, he said.”