The Nation Newspaper

Tag: 8th National Assembly

  • NASS Leadership: Between party supremacy and equity

    During the run-up to the 2019 elections, the nation was held spellbound by the slogan of “Not too young to run.” But there was another slogan that had played out itself four years earlier as the leadership of the outgoing 8th National Assembly was being constituted, and it was “Not too party-compliant not to run.”

    Like the dog that refused to pay any attention to its owner’s whistle, several members of the newly emergent ruling-cum-majority party defied the official zoning formula of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by openly expressing their leadership aspirations. The entire exercise ultimately degenerated to a dog eat dog saga that saw the minority/opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), cart away the post of Deputy Senate President and trump the wishes of the APC by reconfiguring the official zoning formula of the ruling party and upstaging the individuals already pencilled down for specific leadership positions in the House of Representatives.

    The developments greatly enhanced the PDP’s profile and bargaining power as it was an open secret that virtually every APC legislator involved in the conspiratorial heist became a sleeping member of the PDP from that day onwards. What this meant was that the minority party, the PDP, actually had a technical majority in both chambers of the National Assembly and that the tail would henceforth wag the dog!

    It would seem that history is about to repeat itself and lightning is set to unnaturally strike twice in the same place with the impending inauguration of the 9th National Assembly in a few weeks. Not even President Muhammadu Buhari’s direct and open support for the APC’s official zoning policy – very much unlike in 2015 when he rather naively crowed that he could work with “any leadership that emerges in the National Assembly” – has been able to dissuade several members from the North-East, North-Central and South-East from prosecuting their personal game plans. And make no mistake about it, the lack of effective internal party discipline has given rise to a very dicey political quadratic equation that must be timeously resolved without upsetting the apple cart and gifting a prowling PDP another golden opportunity to give the APC a black eye.

    Senators Danjuma Goje and Ali Ndume appear hell-bent on trumping the APC’s pick for Senate President (current Majority Leader Sen. Ahmed Lawan) – all from the same North-East zone. The battle for the Speakership is even more intriguing. The APC has already allotted the post to the South-West and current House Majority Leader Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila. But APC’s decision has not stopped the trio of Umar Bago (APC Niger), John Dyegh (APC Benue) and Idris Wase (APC Plateau) as well as Nkechi Onyejiocha (APC Imo) from gunning for the same office!

    The major argument all the recalcitrant aspirants are making is that the APC should share political leadership positions in a manner that enthrones fairness, equity and the principle of federal character. It is an argument that has a very telling effect as evidenced by the rather cheeky and satirical suggestion by Hon. Dyegh that since the Speakership has been zoned to the South-West (that already produced the Vice President), it would be ‘appropriate’ to equally zone the Senate Presidency to the North-West (that has produced the President) for “proper balancing”!

    International best practice and convention already exist to guide the process of filling leadership positions in the Legislature. What usually happens is that the Senate Majority Leader becomes the Senate President when a vacancy exists – except the peculiar case of the United States of America where the Vice President is the nominal Senate President and the Majority Leader runs the show on a day-to-day basis.

    In a similar fashion, the House Majority Leader becomes the Speaker whenever a vacancy occurs. And when a majority party becomes a minority party at the end of an election cycle, the erstwhile Senate President and the erstwhile Minority Leader exchange positions, while a new majority leader surfaces.

    The same changes take place in the lower chamber whenever a similar turn of electoral fortunes occurs. This tested, age-long succession plan effectively guarantees a seamless transition in the legislative chambers. But of course here in Nigeria we derive morbid gratification from turning things upside down and setting wrong precedents, only to wonder at the end of the day why the nation is making lots of motion without movement!

    Knowing that the only permanent condition is change, it certainly would not be out of place for the APC to take another look at its zoning formula for leadership positions in the National Assembly if the overriding objective is to make the ruling party more popular and widely acceptable in readiness for 2023.

    Having carefully considered the matter, it is with the utmost sense of responsibility and patriotic fervour that I recommend that leadership positions be allotted as follows: Senate President – North-East (Sen. Ahmed Lawan); Deputy Senate President – South-South; House Speaker – North-Central; and Deputy House Speaker – South-East. This alternative formula has taken cognizance of the fact that the North-West has produced the President while the South-West has produced the Vice President.

    The real challenge remains how to handle the case of Gbajabiamila. I recommend that he be appointed a Minister from Lagos State or given a very top ‘juicy’ appointment. It is a very hard thing to ask of someone who loves being in the Legislature and has proven his savvy while demonstrating his loyalty time and again. But we all know that no one can make omelette without breaking one or more eggs and the party is greater than any single individual.

    As I was concluding this essay I espied a news report to the effect that Hon. Wase’s campaign organisation has fused with that of Hon. Gbajabiamila for “the emergence of Gbajabiamila as Speaker and Wase as Deputy Speaker.” This would correspondingly necessitate a reconfiguration of both the zoning formula initially unveiled by the APC and the one earlier suggested by me, as the South-West would garner the offices of Vice-President and House Speaker, while the South-East would become the ONLY geopolitical zone in the nation with ZERO position. Such a deliberate policy of marginalisation must not be allowed to stand.

    I have heard it said that the APC only garnered a measly number of votes in the South-East. This is correct but equally true – and perhaps of even greater importance – is that the number of those elected on the APC platform to the national and state legislatures from the zone witnessed a commendable spike. All of which reminds me of a very telling episode during the ministry of Jesus when he watched rich Jews dropping their Ghana-Must-Go bagful of offerings into the temple treasury even as a poor widow dropped her own two coins. And Jesus commented thus: “I tell you the truth; this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

    Here then is another revelational truth: comparing legislators who coasted to easy victory riding the high wave of a Buhari tsunami in the North, Tinubu’s in the South-West and Adams Oshiomhole’s in Edo State with those who defied boisterous anti-Buhari and anti-APC headwinds in the South-East and South-South is akin to comparing apples with oranges; it just does not tally.

    I make bold to say that under the prevailing circumstances, one national legislator that emerged from the South-East should – in sync with the Principle of Relativity enshrined in the story of the Poor Widow – be considered equivalent to three legislators from the South-West and seven from the North. Their widow’s mite should be applauded and accorded due recognition.

    It is in light of the foregoing – coupled with the feeling that key APC stakeholders have drawn a line in the sand with Gbajabiamila’s assumption of the Speakership position – I move to amend my earlier suggested zoning formula in a manner that guarantees a winning nexus between the imperative of party supremacy and the weighty principles of equity and nation-building: Senate President – North-East (Sen. Ahmed Lawan); Deputy Senate President – South-South; House Speaker – South-West (Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila); Deputy House Speaker – North-Central; and the South-East produces the Majority Leader in BOTH chambers of the National Assembly.

     

    • Okoye is an Abuja-based Financial Inclusion Expert

     

  • ‘NASS appropriates Special fund for Cervical, Breast, Prostrate Cancers’

    The 8th National Assembly has appropriated money for the support and financing of treatment by people suffering from cervical, breast and prostrate cancers.

    The special fund would come under Catastrophic Health Fund to support the financing of the three top range of cancers in Nigeria.

    The fund will be available only for those deemed poor and vulnerable.

    The chairman  Senate committee on health, Senator Lanre Tejuoso made this known to reporters during free medical fair in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Saturday.

    Tejuoso who the Senator representing Ogun Central Senatorial district, added that  said the Senate which he had been part of passed the remarkable laws for the very first time in the history of Nigeria.

    The Senator who was  represented by his media aide, Toba Ogunremi  said  the impactful laws were  passed under  his leadership of Health Committee of the 8th  National Assembly.

    According to him,  the laws also support the improved service provision like the Pharmacy act, and non communicable diseases.

    He noted  that he is also  responsible for the law passage of the Pharmacy act and Non Communicable Diseases.

    He maintained that  the Eighth Assembly of which he has been part of,  appropriated for the first time the BHCPF in the 2018 appropriation

    He said: “It is important to emphasize that this was not included in the appropriation estimates submitted to the National Assembly in 2018.

    ” I want to tell you that the National Assembly is in the final process of passing the legislative framework that will make Health Insurance MANDATORY in Nigeria.”

    He noted that the federal capital Territory, health insurance and SPHCDA are also included.

    According to him, the National Assembly revised the PCN Act to support task shifting endeavors and also to promote private investments in the pharma sector.

    He said: “Sustained financing for Immunization and Nutrition , for the first time in history Nigeria has a USD250M financing to address stunting and counterpart funding for UNICEF for RUTF fully paid.”

    He  lamented the inadequate  physicians employed in both public and private health facilities.

    ”The World Health Organisation (WHO), the ideal requirement in doctor-patient ratio should be one doctor to 600 patients, it is pathetic that one doctor presently attends to more than 6,000 patients in this country”.

  • Eighth NASS and tobacco regulations

    The promise by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara that the 8th National Assembly will speedily adopt the draft National Tobacco Control Regulations communicated to it in December 2018 by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) is commendable and should be actualized as a parting gift to Nigerians.

    Dogara at a recent Interactive Session on the National Tobacco Control Regulation organised by the House Committee on Delegated Legislation in Abuja, said that the National Tobacco Control Act, 2015, has widened the areas where tobacco smoking is prohibited in Nigeria in furtherance of the right of every person to a clean and healthy environment and protection from exposure to second-hand smoke.

    He quoted a recent report by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) which estimated that the Nigerian government spends as much as $591 million yearly on treatment of patients suffering from tobacco-induced diseases to justify the need for prompt action.

    For the public health community nothing could be more reassuring than this pledge at a time that public confidence in the Parliamentary approval for the Regulation seems to be waning. The National Assembly had indeed been quiet on the Regulations since 2018 when the FEC communicated the draft document to it for consideration.

    The euphoria that has greeted this news notwithstanding, Nigerians do not want a flat regulation that does not address the crucial recommendations of the World Health Organisation – Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WH0-FCTC) as captured in the NTC Act.

    This is why the work of Simon Arabo-led committee on delegated legislation on the tobacco control regulation must be commended for seeking the input of civil society and other stakeholders to ensure the regulations reflect popular yearnings.

    On its part, the Federal Ministry of Health being the custodian of the health of Nigerians has carefully crafted the draft regulations in consultation with other stakeholders to ensure that it is of the same standard as is obtained in other parts of the world.

    One of the draft regulations requires that tobacco product manufacturers, importers or distributors submit a report to the Federal Minister of Health at the end of every calendar year, and not later than at the end of the first quarter of the succeeding calendar year, stating among other things the quantity of tobacco products produced; quantities exported from Nigeria and their audited annual statement of account.

    This requirement, the Ministry believes, is in tandem with recommendations of the WHO FCTC that Parties institute record-keeping mechanisms as part of strategies to monitor tobacco use and prevention policies. For a nation like Nigeria already inundated with unregistered tobacco products that are openly sold in the open market, no less a recommendation is required.

    On cigarette packs, the Ministry wants the age-long text warning which says ‘The Federal Ministry of Health warns that smokers are liable to die young’ to be replaced with a combination of text and graphic pictorial health warning messages. These messages are to be printed on 80% of the principal display surfaces of all tobacco product packages, as is practised in other nations that have equally signed, ratified and are now implementing the WHO-FCTC to the letter.

    India and China for instance, apply 85% combination of text and graphic pictorial health warning messages on their tobacco packages. African countries like the Gambia apply 75% of text and graphic pictorial health warning messages on their tobacco packages. Cameroon, Chad, and Senegal apply 70% each. The aim of this is to reduce the attractiveness of tobacco products, eliminate the effects of tobacco packaging as a form of advertising and promotion, and increase the notice-ability and effectiveness of health warnings, among others. Tobacco products will also not contain any other text, images, symbols, colours, signs, or other contents, including any trademarks or brand imaging, in whole or part.

    To ensure that the nation’s tobacco control policies are insulated from the tobacco industry meddling, the Regulations reinforce the fact that infiltration of tobacco control by any entity with conflict of interest will jeopardize the goals of the public health policy and sets the basic standard for public officials engaging with tobacco entities.

    For violation of the law there are financial penalties also.  Section 37 of the Act states that property forfeited to the State shall be channeled into a Tobacco Control Fund (TCF) established. Examples of countries that are implementing such measure are Botswana, Egypt, Iceland, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Romania, and Thailand.

    With the far-reaching nature of the draft Regulations on public health, it is not out of place to express fears that the tobacco industry might throw spanner in the wheel of its progress. Their aversion to licensing of tobacco products in the country and graphic health warnings the size that the Health ministry is proposing might just be snippets of what they may be cooking up to possibly derail the approval of the regulations as the June 2019 expiration of the 8th National Assembly nears.

    If that should happen, God forbid, the entire process of getting the FEC to approve the draft put together by the Health Ministry will start all over again and possibly take another four years to reach the point we currently find ourselves.

    There are no better words that capture the moment as what is credited to the Minister of State for Health, Professor Osagie Ehanire in the Health ministry’s memorandum to the House Committee that, it is clearly better and cheaper to prevent tobacco-linked diseases than to cure them. This is what the approval of the Regulations mean and this is what Nigerians demand of the 8th National Assembly.

     

    • Achike writes from Minna, Niger State

  • 8th National Assembly worked against Buhari – chairman, centre for anti-corruption and open leadership

  • Saraki learnt nothing

    It is said that you can’t give what you don’t have. So it isn’t surprising that the outgoing President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, missed the point when, according to an April 2 report, he “advised political party leaders to allow elected federal lawmakers to choose their leaders on the day of inauguration in order to achieve stability of the 9th  National Assembly.”

    There is no doubt that Saraki, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), targeted the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), whose members will be in the majority in the 9th National Assembly. Under normal circumstances, the APC is expected to produce the principal officers of the next federal legislature.

    Saraki had talked to journalists after a lecture by the Clerk to the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, at an orientation programme for newly elected federal legislators in Abuja. He said: “The point I am making is that we should not make too much noise on the process of electing presiding officers. What is important is for the members of the Senate to decide who is the best to lead them, so that they can have stability.”

    Considering how Saraki became Senate President in 2015 when he was an APC member, his words show that he learnt little or nothing from the scandalous episode. He attained the position by scheming, pure and simple.  Saraki’s political manoeuvrings had got him the office against his party’s preference. But, predictably, it was a Pyrrhic victory; and it worked against him at the helm of the Senate.

    Saraki’s anti-party plot to get the top seat in the Senate had resulted in a strange power-sharing arrangement. Normally, the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President should have been members of the majority party.  But a member of the minority party, Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP, became Saraki’s deputy in a leadership combination that left a lot be desired.

    The APC’s response to Saraki’s advice was predictable.  The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Isa-Onilu, said:  “The position of the party remains that those positions that belong to the majority party belong to us. Members of the minority party should mind their own business. They should find a way of occupying the positions that belong to them. It is not in their place to start telling us what to do and what not to do.”

    Indeed, Saraki needs to learn to distinguish between what is normal and what is abnormal.

  • Some actions, decisions of 8th Senate regrettable, says Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari has frowned at some actions and decisions of the 8th National Assembly, saying such activities remain regrettable.

    The president, who made his feeling known when he hosted state governors and senators-elect of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to a dinner at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday night.

    President Buhari particularly cited the deliberate and persistent delay in passing the nation’s annual budget by the national assembly.

    He, therefore, challenged the in-coming 9th national assembly to do things differently from the outgoing 8th senate so as to enable his administration to achieve its target of transforming the nation.

    “This is my fifth and last time of standing for an election – for that reason I’ll like to leave something behind.

    “And what I want to leave cannot be successfully done without your support.

    “So, that is why I’m appealing for your support. What happened in the last senate and so on is regrettable because I still feel it shouldn’t take seven months to pass a budget. You have a very, very serious job ahead of you.

    “So, what I’m appealing is that any major decision you are going to take please reflect more on the country than yourself as a person – what effect will it have on the country,’’ he said.

    While promising to work and partner with the 9th national assembly in promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in the country, the president thanked the governors and senators-elect for their support and understanding.

    The National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who spoke to State House correspondents after the dinner, said the whole purpose of the event was to bond the new and old senators, to establish a new of relationship between the executive and the legislature.

    He said: “The system talks about the separation of powers between the executive and legislature and the two must handshake for things to happen.

    “And when you have a president that is determined to drive changes, fundamental changes that will affect our habits, our life style, review the economy, deal with the security situation, fight corruption as fiercely as he is trying to do, he will need a very supportive legislative arm of government.

    “And happily, the Nigerian people have given us the number in the legislative arm of government.

    Read also: Buhari moves to prevent National Assembly hijack

    “All we have agreed today is that we will use these numbers as a functioning whole to determine the leadership of the Senate in a way that we are not going to go to the floor of the Senate and allow the opposition dictate who becomes the senate president.

    “Because, we have a comfortable majority to drive that, what we have to do is to manage that majority.’’

    Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau, who also spoke on outcome of the meeting said: “What the president has done today, I think is the right step in the right direction.

    “The last time we did not have the opportunity of this politics but today, Mr. President invited us. Because, we are governors and we also dialogue with our senators.

    “Mr President said in order to avoid rancour, let me lay the way forward and we are very happy he has laid the way forward and because of that we are all going to work towards achieving the desire of Mr President for the good of this country.’’(NAN)

  • Why we want to rearrange election order, says Ekweremadu

    Why we want to rearrange election order, says Ekweremadu

    Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Monday said that the National Assembly wants rearrangement of the order of election to help voters to judge each candidate on his or her own merit at each level of election.

    Ekweremadu said that the rearrangement of the order of election as passed by the House of Representatives, if adopted by the Conference Committee of both Houses, would no doubt help the electorate to make up their minds on each candidate seeking their votes at each level of election.

    He also assured that legislative work on the Electoral Act and the Constitution amendment would be concluded in a matter of weeks.

    Ekweremadu was said to have stated this when he received a delegation of the British High Commission in Nigeria led by the High Commissioner, Mr. Paul Arkwright.

    A statement by the Special Adviser (Media) to the Deputy Senate President, Uche Anichukwu said that Ekweremadu expressed gratitude to the British Government for always showing interest in state of the Nigerian union and her democracy.

    It said that Ekweremadu noted that concluding the amendments to the Electoral Act and Constitution amendment was top on the priority list of the 8th National Assembly to ensure better governance and smooth elections in 2019.

    The Deputy Senate President was quoted to have said: “The 2019 election is very important to Nigeria. The amendments to the Electoral Act and the Constitution all form part of the ongoing electoral reform to continue to improve on the quality of our elections.

    “In the previous amendment, a timeframe was set for the determination of election petitions. Now we are working on setting a timeframe for pre-election matters. In the previous amendments, we also created a window for direct and indirect primary by political parties.

    “In the current amendment, we want to make more elaborate provisions regarding direct party primaries for political parties that may wish to adopt it to ensure greater fairness, transparency, and internal democracy in choosing their flag bearers.

    “We are also working to lift the restrictions on the use of electronic voting by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. That way, it will be up to the election management body to determine if it is sufficiently prepared to deploy electronic voting or when to adopt electronic voting.”

    He said, “The bottom line is that the Conference Committees on both the Electoral Act and Constitution Amendment are meeting separately this week to conclude work on the entire amendments to ensure a smoother and more credible electoral processes as well as promote good governance of the country.”

    It said that the British High Commissioner, Mr. Arkwright, noted that they came to see Ekweremadu on political developments, especially as it concerned the prospects for the People’s Democratic Party and legislative activities of the National Assembly.

    “The legislative programme, which you have in the Senate and the National Assembly, the changes to the electoral laws are also important to us”, Arkwright was quoted to have said.

  • NANS disrupts House of Reps celebration

    NANS disrupts House of Reps celebration

    The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Friday disrupted the second anniversary celebration of the 8th National Assembly at the assembly complex in Abuja.

    The incident occurred at the House of Representatives version of the celebration when Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, introduced Mr Harruna Kadiri as President of NANS.

    Instantly, members of the association, in a loud chorus, rejected the recognition of Kadiri as their president, and insisted that it should be withdrawn.

    They continued the chorus of “no, no, no, Kadiri is not the president of NANS, he is not our president’’ and stalled proceedings in the celebration.

    It took some effort of security operatives at the event to get the students out of the chambers for the celebrations to continue.

    Speaking immediately to journalists on behalf of the protesting students, Mr Chinoso Obasi said that he was the substantive president of the association.

    He displayed a letter of invitation to the event addressed to him as NANS president.

    Obasi recalled that at the house’s invitation, he participated as NANS president in a public hearing recently conducted by the Committee on Tertiary Education and Services “to defend a bill that has to do with Nigerian students’’.

    “Today, I am here on invitation, not on my own, to attend this celebration and I am being embarrassed with another fellow being recognised in my place.’’

    He accused a member of the house, Herman Hembe, who he said was a member of NANS, as being responsible for the development.

    “A Sergeant-at-Arms Officer had approached me and asked for my name and I gave my complimentary card.

    “To my greatest surprise, when the speaker was about to recognise my presence, the Hembe went to meet him and the speaker recognised Kadiri instead,’’ he said.

    Obasi disclosed that Kadiri lost in the association’s election held in 2016.

    He decried the incident, saying “at a time when democracy is being preached, it is saddening to see the House of Representatives undermining the process.

    “We are not a political party; we are not an arm of government. We are only a pressure group, so, why the attempt to impose somebody on us who is not representing us?” he said.

    Obasi said NANS would pass a “vote-of-no-confidence in the speaker’’.

    In a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Hembe questioned the media for bothering itself about the incident.

    Hembe said he wondered why the media preferred controversial issues to other burning issues in the country.

    “Is the NANS issue news worthy? You media people, why do you like controversy so much?

    “Of all that happened today at the anniversary celebrations, of all the speeches, is this the only thing you saw to write?

    “You can write whatever you want,” he said.

     

  • Infrastructure: Ex-minister commends Buhari

    Infrastructure: Ex-minister commends Buhari

    A former Minister of Lands, Housing and Rural Development, Chief Nduese Essien, on Monday commended President Mohammadu Buhari for signing the infrastructural partnership with China.

     

    Essien, who made the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Eket, Akwa Ibom, described Buhari’s recent trip to China as a huge success.

     

    He said the trip was very timely, considering its significance to Nigeria, especially as regards the proposedEket, Akwa Ibom.

     

    “Though the project was initiated by former President (Goodluck) Jonathan, its inclusion in the 2016 appropriation bill is a mark of patriotism and good intentions for the people of the South-South.

     

    “It would have been disastrous if the Lagos-Calabar rail project was expunged from the 2016 proposed budget– the President having secured a bilateral economic agreement with China on rail projects in Nigeria,’’ he said.

     

    Essien, a two-term member of the National Assembly, also commended the South-South legislators at the National Assembly for their positive stance on the Lagos-Calabar Rail Project.

     

    He, however, called on members of the 8th National Assembly not to play politics with the Lagos-Calabar Rail Project, saying the overall developmental interest of the country was paramount.

     

    “National interest must come first before partisan affiliation. We must endeavour to collectively join hands in moving this country forward, irrespective of our political differences,’’ he said.

  • 8th Senate will be more focused – Saraki

    8th Senate will be more focused – Saraki

     

    [dropcap]P[/dropcap]resident of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki,  has on Tuesday said that the 8th Senate would resume to better legislation following the break.

    Saraki said this on Tuesday through his social media platform adding that the senate under his presidency will be capable of producing watershed legislative interventions

    According to him: “As the Senate resumes today, it’s expected that the recess would, have in no small measure help us consolidate stability of National Assembly.

     “Now is time to move as one house in one direction to fulfill the promise we made to our constituencies that gave us our mandate.

    “It is time we remind ourselves of the solemn promise to deliver real change, which can’t be achieved in atmosphere distracted politics.

    “Elections are over; Nigerians didn’t put their lives on the line for politics but for responsible leadership that can deliver good governance.

    “Our mandate is not to come & play politics; our mandate is to be solution providers for the numerous challenges that bedeviled our country.

    “We have insurgency threatening very existence of our country & fabric of its unity from NE, we are facing dire streak due to mismanagement.

    “We have leadership task of turning challenges around through purpose driven lawmaking & Nigerians will not forgive us if we abdicate.

    “We can only achieve real change by working together & time is now. Before recess, we started process of laying down marker for new Senate.

    “8th Senate would be a much more focused legislative session, capable of producing watershed legislative interventions,” he said.

    [news_list display=”tag” tag=”Saraki, Bukola Saraki, NASS, National Assembly, 8th NASS” show_more=”on”]