The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Lawmakers

  • Lawmakers or undertakers?

    Lawmakers or undertakers?

    Just as many had predicted, Friday May 5, passed without the National Assembly transmitting a final copy of the 2017 Appropriation Bill to the executive for assent into law. For a budget whose parameters both parties had assured Nigerians were far less contentious, or if you like, disagreeable than the one preceding it, it has certainly been a hell of a waiting since the formal laying of the budget document before the two chambers of the National Assembly on December 14, 2016.

    So much for the feet-shuffling of the past few days, the best we had was the listing of the “presentation of the report” as the first item on the Senate’s Order Paper last Thursday. Even at that, like school children faced with the prospects of writing an examination for which they were totally unprepared, Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, merely caused to be announced that it be stepped down and taken “by the Grace of God” today (Tuesday) since the Danjuma Goje-led appropriation committee were “currently” meeting with their counterparts in the House of Representatives on the last-minute harmonisation of the budget proposal.

    Imagine that happening barely 24 hours to the expiration of the 2016 Appropriation Act. This is a budget that Senate President and chairman of the National Assembly, Bukola Saraki had promised way back in February would be returned to the President for his assent by the end of March.

    To our ‘distinguished’ parliamentarians, there was – as far as they could see – no cause for alarm.

    No risk of an embarrassing shutdown of government of the kind that would spark outrage on the streets – thanks to Section 82 of the constitution which allows the president to authorise withdrawal from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on services of the government until the coming into operation of the new budget.

    No sense of urgency or emergency for an economy which shrunk by 1.5 percent in 2016, the first full-year drop in 25 years according to International Monetary Fund; a country whose infrastructure situation would best pass as antediluvian, whose real sector chokes from the unprecedented infrastructure deficit; an economy that has only lately begun to show modest signs of crawling out of the recession.

    And to further imagine that this is only the second money bill in the series of which the minders of the economy had sought to spend it out of recession! A budget said to be based on the Buhari administration’s Economic Recovery and Growth Strategy; a plan said to provide “a clear road map of policy actions and steps designed to bring the economy out of recession and to a path of steady growth and prosperity”; held hostage by the institution decidedly holding both the yam and the knife!

    But then, it is not as if the current holdout has not been long in coming. It started with the bickering over the administration’s 2016-19 external borrowing plan of $29.960 billion; it extended to the 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper which the National Assembly found incomprehensible; followed by the Hammed Ali – the Customs Comptroller-General and the uniform sideshow; and then of course the Ibrahim Magu confirmation affair –all  climaxing in the April 20 raid on the residence of the chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Danjuma Goje by the police during which some laptops and 18 documents said to contain the work of the committee on the 2017 budget were said to have been removed.

    We know what happened after: the august body reportedly threatened to dump the process in its entirety – until the police returned all documents carted away in the raid!

    Talk of a parliament that would rather major in minors at a time of dire emergencies!

    By the way, here is what yours truly wrote on November 8, last year at the onset of the crisis:

    “If we had thought the nation was done with the nightmare of budget documents missing in transit, the topsy-turvy of an exercise whose final product was mangled to the point of rendering it of dubious provenance, we are again learning that nothing has changed in any shape or form about the annual ritual called budgeting. Even at that, there must be something spectacularly enervating in the antics of an administration that prefers drama over substance; an administration that has now made a habit of draping signature incompetence in the colours of patriotism. This is where the latest fire-fights and turf wars in the count-down to Budget 2017 is not only wearisome, it is one distraction Nigerians would gladly do without”.

    The wheels – as they say – have now turned full cycle.

    Add to the confused and utterly bungling executive branch, the insufferable arrogance of a body which would not baulk at deploying crude blackmail to achieve its base objectives, and at a time APC, the party in government is practically missing in action, the result is the creeping disaster currently set to overwhelm us.

    As for the six-point something trillion on which the nation pins its hope for survival, expect no miracle – or rather, no shortage of excuses for non-delivery on the budget objectives whenever it is finally passed into law.

    So much for the perennial circus.

    At a time the world is moving at the jet speed, it is alright for our lawmakers to live in pretence that all is well. And for the executive to imagine that it has all the time in the world to fix the problems. Together, they can choose to kick down the road – the burden of Nigeria’s 30-year roadmap infrastructure development plan – the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP), projected to cost a record $2 trillion (N398.1 trillion) over the next three decades. Isn’t it precisely what their predecessors did that landed us in the current hole?

    And now with oil price showing steady recovery, why bother again with the old symptoms of the Dutch curse that has held the economy down? Why expend valuable rigour on fixing things when you can enjoy the current bazar? Never mind the talk about mid-term being barely three weeks hence; why bother when you still have the whole of two years to get things moving?

    Who is talking about change?

     

  • NACCIMA to lawmakers: budget delays hurting economy

    NACCIMA to lawmakers: budget delays hurting economy

    The National of Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has urged the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of 2017 Appropriation Bill submitted since last year by the Federal Government.
    Speaking on the state of the nation, its President, Bassey Edem, said dragging the passage of the appropriation document further would hurt the economy, inhibit investment initiatives, stall key infrastructure projects and rubbish the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) campaign of the government.
    Despite encouraging signs of recovery from recession with inflation rate pegged at 17.78 per cent and decline of -1.3 per cent in GDP adverse growth rate in the fourth quarter of last year, NACCIMA said inactive policy and structure might not sustain the fragile growth.
    According to him, the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) targeted at 2.19 per cent by year end is a commendable initiative that could only be propelled through adherence to strategic implementation and engagement of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) to ensure an overarching recovery.
    “Having been part of the process of developing the ERGP, it becomes imperative that the OPS be carried along in its implementation.We acknowledge the thoroughness that the legislators are putting into the 2017 Budget process to ensure that it positively impacts the economy, however, the process is taking too long, considering the fact that a budget is the lifeline of the economic development which the private sectors also depend upon,” he said.
    Backing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ban on banks manipulating Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) access to intervention funds, Edemcalled for a review of the CBN policy on the 41 banned items through the removal of the essential raw materials unavailable locally and restoration and extension of sectoral forex allocation to real sectors, agriculture and solid minerals.
    He further urged the government to align monetary and fiscal policies towards stimulating a lower interest rate that will support competitive growth.
    “All along, we have been saying SMEs are having problem accessing intervention funds from banks and the banks prefer to give it to the bigger people. So I support the CBN to ban those banks to make it a lesson for others. The CBN intervention is a welcome idea. You find that it is very sad to have so many exchange rates. So CBN bringing out different windows means that the panic buying which people are doing is reduced. We are hoping it would fall to the official rate of 305. The more the exchange rate declines, the better. Our only problem is the cost of borrowing. The man who goes and buy goods and come to Nigeria to sell can afford to go to bank and get a loan of 17 per cent because he knows he can add it to the cost price but the manufacturer cannot afford to do that. How much money does he get from converting his raw materials to finished goods; we must get to a stage of having single digit rate,” the NACCIMA chief said.
    The president noted that the association would chart ways to ameliorate the business climate through review of the ease of doing business at its 57th Annual Conference on the 25th.

  • NLC threatens governors, lawmakers

    NLC threatens governors, lawmakers

    The stage appears set for a clash of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) with governors and lawmakers pushing the bill which seeks to remove the National Minimum Wage from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list.

    The NLC leadership yesterday threatened to mobilise Nigerians against governors and some National Assembly members.

    NLC President Ayuba Wabba, who spoke with The Nation last night, accused some members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum of sponsoring such an anti-workers’ legislation.

    The bill which scaled through the first reading before the House embarked on Easter recess, is set for second reading on the floor of the House where members will debate on it.

    Wabba, who kicked against fresh moves to “strangulate workers”, who have been frustrated by the lingering socio-economic hardship, said labour would explore every legitimate legal means to protect workers. “We have done in the past and we are going to deplore it,” he said.

    The Congress plans to mobilise its affiliates to campaign against all political office holders linked with anti-workers’ legislations and policies ahead of the 2018 and 2019 general elections.

    Wabba said: “All over the world, minimum wage is on the exclusive list. We are talking about protecting the most vulnerable group, that is the principle and philosophy. It is an ILO core issue under decent work agenda. It is a core ILO issue that all countries are conformed to.

    “So, first is that it is the level of ignorance because he thinks that it is only for the state. No. It is for the self-employed for those that are from the private sector to protect the most vulnerable people from being exploited from false labour and slavery. That is why minimum wage law is there.

    “It is a core ILO convention and in many countries of the world, including capitalist economy. As capitalist as the United Stated (U.S.) is, they have a minimum wage law.

    “So, we must first understand the concept. It is not the state government. It is all employers of labour generally, both private and public. So, for public sector, who fixes their own? That is why it is a tripartite issue. I think that there is a level of ignorance he has demonstrated in this without even knowing what minimum wage law is all about.

    “First, we condemn it in its entirety. We are going to respond immediately and effectively. Two, let him also go back to the archives. This issue was introduced even by some cabals within the Governors’ Forum at the last constitution amendment and it was defeated.

    “It went to a referendum and it was defeated. So, we should start from where we stopped and not to take us back to areas we have actually advanced on.”

    Wabba said that millions of Nigerians who are self-employed and those working in the private sector will be subjected to undue exploitation if the national minimum wage is removed from the exclusive list to the concurrent list.

    “Who will regulate the case of the self-employed; for instance now, you are self-employed, you are not working under either the state or the federal government where you can even negotiate.

    “So, the implication is that once you remove that from the exclusive list, workers will be exploited. We are not even talking of the maximum, we are talking about the minimum.

    “Assuming the alteration bill sells through in the National Assembly, what will organised labour, especially the leadership of the NLC, do? It will not said through because we will stop it at all cost. Nigerian workers will not accept this.

    “The proponent of the bill, Ayeola Abayomi Abdulkadir (APC-Lagos), seeks to alter the Second Schedule, Part 1 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) by deleting item 34 from the exclusive legislative list and renumbering the existing item 35 as item 34 and subsequent items accordingly.”

    Also yesterday, the President, United Labour Congress (ULC), Mr. Joe Ajaero, said moves to remove minimum wage from the exclusive to concurrent legislative list would be protested.

    Speaking at the pre-2017 May Day seminar organised by ULC, in Lagos, Ajaero described  the move is ill-motivated to deny workers their right to live well which is what some of the governors have been advocating but we will mobilise against them.

    He said that if the planned delisting of wages from the exclusive legislative list succeeds, the country would no longer have a national minimum wage.

    Ajaero said: “It means that each state of the federation will be empowered to legislate and arrive at what should be their respective minimum.’’

    The current N18, 000 minimum wage became effective in 2011 and subject to a review every five years.

    Labour has been agitating for a review since last year citing hyperinflation and the devaluation of the Naira.

  • ‘Lawmakers are not ganging up against Gaidam’

    ‘Lawmakers are not ganging up against Gaidam’

    Hon. Sidi Karasuwa is a member of the House of Representatives from Karasuwa/Nguru/Machina/Yusufari Constituency. He was  the  Director-General of the  Ibrahim Gaidam Campaign Organisation and Commissioner of Works,  Water Resources, Animals and Fisheries. In this interview with JOEL DUKU, he debunks claims that some politicians in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)  were ganging up against Governor Ibrahim Gaidam on his plans to anoint a successor in 2019.

    why did you contest the House of Representatives election in 2015?
    My answer to your question is nothing, but to come here and represent my people, make laws that will be impactful on their lives, the state and the country in general. Other than that, my interaction with other politicians across the country will equally sharpen my political experience for the better.
    How will you assess your performance, in terms of delivering the dividends of democracy to the people?
    As I am concerned, we have been trying to make sure we achieve our purpose of being here. When you are elected to come to the House of Representatives, your major responsibility is lawmaking in terms of governance of the country, provide enabling laws to do with the country’s development generally. I will say that the present day representation at the National Assembly do not stop from only engaging lawmaking but also giving a person an added advantage to get something back to people.
    This is done through Federal Government budget to provide a lot of things to them, that is, constituency projects. I will say I am satisfied because from my coming till date, I feel I have achieved something. Once you do something good, apart from the people, you will feel proud. I have done a lot of things, in terms of representing our constituency. Some of the things I have done include providing materials to farmer to reduce hardship to increase profit and improve the livelihood of farmers. I have also provided about eight hand pumps to communities; carried out entrepreneurship training to youths so they could participate in small and medium scale loan that is provided by the Central Bank; we have just concluded the first part of the training to beneficiaries. Our intention was to start with the 200 participants, but we started with 64 as first batch to be trained. We have provided a new maternity clinic to villages, classroom construction, road, provision of rural ruminant breeding support as a way of improving the economic status of 100 women so far but the proposal was for 400 women. There are a lot of other things which we intend to do as far as the implementation is concerned.
    You were a commissioner before. Could you compare the two roles?
    To be a legislator is very interesting, if you are already doing what is expected of you. I have been in the executive. So, I think this is the area I want most. The legislature involves lawmaking and executive involves policies and implementation. So, there is a difference between the two. If there is cordiality between the two, things will work well for the benefit of the people. Any heat that comes between them, it is the masses that will suffer. A lot of time will be wasted time taking and it will affect the implementation of the budget.
    There is sense of independence. That is why I said the legislature is interesting, unlike the executive when you don’t have the opportunity to stand on your own and to travel. When you want to, you have to go through permission.
    Let’s move to the Northeast Development Commission. The law establishing it has been passed. But there were issues that has to do with the funding. What are the areas that are yet to be strengthened in that bill or law that is delaying the passage?
    I think the bill that is being passed involves the Senate and the House of Representatives. It is just waiting the presidential consent. If the president refuse to consent, the House will override it and it is still going to be law in the nation. But, I must say that the President is always in support of any bill that will improve the life of the people of the Northeast. So, I am positive that he will consent whenever it is sent to him. As far as I am concerned, there is no heat in terms of funding through the bill.
    You cannot start funding, until the bill is signed and documented as always, but you cannot start before money will be released for spending. You cannot just dispense money when there is no organization to implement projects that the money is meant for.
    Yobe has a peculiar problem, which appeared almost every part of the state; poverty, education, backwardness are the major things, apart from the insurgency that has recently bedevilled the state.
    What are you are doing as a legislator to attract national presence to your state?
    In terms of national presence, establishing the commission is one of the things. Because having faced a lot of serious problem and poverty. In political term, the commission will take charge. In our own individual interactions with ministries, we are able to get some project that will improve the education system. Like intervention for schools in the state, the state has been complaining of lack of teachers. So, the Federal Government is helping as well through N-Power Programme to employ a lot of people who can go out there and teach. We are also trying to ease certain difficulties through the implementation of certain national policies in the education sector. The Federal Government asked us to assist the states in need of such assistance.
    As regards the poverty issue, it is a general issue, not only in Yobe, but in the country as a whole. Even, some people living in the urban areas are in poverty, not just those in the rural area. The best thing government can do in poverty eradication is to increase production.
    There is an allegation that some politicians in Abuja from Yobe are working to take over power in Damaturu. Are you aware of that?
    Actually, I don’t know. But, as far as I am concerned, there’s nobody here waiting in Abuja to take over politics in Damaturu. I am a grassroots politician and I believe in grassroots politics, and politics is local where ever you go. If you are not from there, you cannot start it anywhere. You have to start it there with the local people. Throughout my life, for example, I am a local politician. So, my coming to Abuja cannot change me. I cannot change my style or approach to politics simply because I have come to Abuja. I must say that every politician has a local base. Nobody started from Abuja. We all started from the local level. Even, If someone is here in Abuja and says let us come here, talk and take over Yobe, I will advice him not to because that is not how things are supposed to be done.
    Governor Gaidam has said he will not hand over to any Abuja politician. What is your reaction?
    I don’t consider myself among those mentioned at that occasion by the governor, and secondly, he said those coming from Abuja, he did not say those sitting in Abuja and working out modalities of taking over Yobe State.That might be anybody and I do not want to discuss such. All I want to say is that nobody here in Abuja is planning to take over politics in Yobe come 2019. We are all stakeholders. So, whatever will happen as far as the fate of Yobe is concern in 2019. All of us will go there and talk about it. It is not the matter of a few people talking from one side or the other to go and take over. It is not right. We have been doing this since 1999,2003,2007 and 2015. All those times, we have not faced any serious problem that will divide the government.

  • Group tasks elected Urhobo lawmakers on transparency

    A group, the Urhobo Summit Group, has tasked its elected representatives from to be more accountable to the people.

    They urged elected representatives to frequently give account of their stewardship.

    Speaking at a summit in Asaba-the Delta State Capital, the group also canvassed the development of the Urhobo nation.

    It lamented that the Urhobo people have been relegated in terms of socio economic and political development, given its significant contribution to national development in the past five to six decades of the nation’s existence.

    The Urhobo summit, a non-political organisation, bemoaned the lack of feedback mechanism between elected representatives and constituents, charging them to act as a bridge between government and them.

    The group’s president, Professor Victor Jike bemoaned the dearth of federal infrastructure in Urhobo land and called for urgent steps to redress the injustice.

    According to him Sapele community, host to the Ogorode power station have no electricity supply.

    Other speakers at the event which included former Finance and Economic Planning Commissioner, Olorogun Kenneth Okpara, Dr Godwin Ogbegor of Delta State University Abraka and Omiragwa Henry Diejamaoh were unanimous in their view that the teeming youths of Urhobo land should be empowered.

    They also advocated for skills acquisition and capacity building for youths, urging elected Urhobo representatives to chart the way forward and do the needful by proposing development models.

  • How lawmakers stalled cassava bread initiative

    How lawmakers stalled cassava bread initiative

    The inability of members of the National Assembly to pass the enabling law is responsible for the non implementation of the cassava bread initiative, The Nation has learnt.

    Dr. Mrs. Gloria Elemo Director General, Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO) confirmed this development at the weekend in an interview with The Nation at FIIRO’s headquarters in Lagos.

    “The cassava bread initiative was actually a programme in the institute. The programme has been the baby of the FIIRO back in the 60s. We were already looking for utility ways of using and reducing the importation of imported foods in this country, especially wheat because a large sum of the forex was being expended in the importation of various materials from overseas,” she recalled.

    Justifying the need for the choice of cassava, she said it was considered because of its comparative advantage and pricing. “Cassava was the target crop and it was found to be very effective and useful as composite flour.”

    The DG of FIIRO who noted that the technology is completely finished and the transfer is even completed, however regretted that “What we’re waiting for is legislation for proper implementation and if there would be legislation, to say a percentage of cassava flour should go into bread in Nigeria, then it is as well done. There’s nothing left in the area of technology that hasn’t been done yet. Even sorghum can actually be constituted into flour. So we’re looking at sorghum and cassava as inclusion in wheat bread to reduce the importation.”

    The 30% inclusion alone, she stressed, “Will help conserve over N127b savings in forex expended in the importation of flour and gradually, we will be improving on our savings to go into other sectors of the economy.”

    Besides, she said, across the value chain, it will create about three million jobs.

    On how soon the idea would crystalise, she said the Ministry of Science and Technology has since made representations to the legislative arm of government to no avail.

    “The recommendations are there at the National Assembly. There have been concerted efforts over the years to make sure that this thing is passed to law but nothing happened. But we’re hoping that very soon it will be passed into law.”

    It may be recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2002 had initiated a policy on 10 percent inclusion of the tuber crop in bread under a programme tagged: ‘the Presidential Initiative on Cassava’ in order to promote the cassava value chain. This was followed by launch of Cassava Bread Development Fund by former President Goodluck Jonathan to serve as an extension of the Cassava Bread Wealth Development Fund, by imposing a levy of 15 percent on wheat grain imports, which will increase the effective duty from five to twenty (5-20) percent.

  • SGF’s suspension excites lawmakers

    SGF’s suspension excites lawmakers

    SENATORS and House of Representatives members yesterday reacted to the suspension of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir David Lawal by his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The lawmakers said the development was in tune with Nigerians’ expectation of a government that has the anti-corruption crusade as its selling point.

    Praising the President for wielding the big stick against the SGF, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, Matthew Urhoghide, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview that the move showed the President’s readiness to fight corruption irrespective of who was involved.

    Describing the suspension as a welcomed development, Urhoghide said contrary to beliefs that the National Assembly was out to witch-hunt members of the executive, the assembly had sincerity of purpose in the discharge of its duties.

    He said: “Some of the decisions of the assembly are reached on the merit of their cases. So, if the President now considers that it is a good thing for him to take a look at the report from the Senate, which was given in good faith, it is nice.

    The Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee investigating the Northeast crises, Senator  Shehu Sani, in a statement in Abuja, applauded the President’s action on his committee’s report.

    He said it was commendable that the committee’s report was taken seriously.

    Sani said: “The sword of truth is not just cast and sharpened for the neck of foes but also for those of friends. Moral gallows is not just meant for a belligerent foe but for a perfidious friend.

    “Courage is dispensing justice; greater courage is dispensing justice against our emotions and temptation towards saving a friend. It’s easier to annihilate an adversary for a heap wrong than reprimand a friend for a mountain of wrong.

    “It’s commendable for the president to heed the call to fumigate the throne of lice and bugs with the same ability he goes after rodents afar.’’

    Senator Adamu Aliero, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, also applauded the courage of the President.

    Senator Mohammed Hassan (PDP-Yobe), a member of the ad hoc committee, said  the committee was putting finishing touches to the final report on its assignment.

    He said the report would be laid before the Senate after the Easter break.

    He said: “I am just hearing this from you, but you know it was an interim report that was presented to the Senate and the final report, I am sure when we resume, will be laid on the floor of the Senate.

    “If you recall, we were to have a public hearing where all those involved will be invited and that couldn’t hold for some obvious reasons that were stated on the floor of the senate. What I know is that the committee will ensure that the report is laid on the floor of the Senate.”

    The Green Chamber members expressed mixed feelings over the suspension of the SGF and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, (NIA), Ayo 0ke.

    Minority Leader Leo Ogor said the suspension was in tune with the government’s anti-graft war posture.

    He, however, demanded  thorough investigation and disclosure of the ownership of the Osborne Towers, Lagos $43 million haul.

    Ogor said: “The suspension of both men is a step in the right direction for Nigeria but it must be in line with the transparency agenda of this administration vis a vis its anti-corruption drive right from inception.

    “We Nigerians demand a detailed probe on the $43 million that was found and there’s need to throw more light on who actually owns the money or better still, let them specifically tell us where the money came from.”

    Kingsley Chinda  (PDP, Rivers), who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, believed the President Muhammadu  Buhari was prompted into action by public outcry.

    He said: “It was Nigerians, who actually pushed the Federal Government   into action due to their persistence that justice must be seen to be equitably distributed.

  • Lawmakers approve 12 Special Advisers for Obaseki 

    Lawmakers approve 12 Special Advisers for Obaseki 

    Lawmakers in the Edo State House of Assembly on Tuesday gave the nod to Governor Godwin Obaseki request to appoint 12 Special Advisers.

    The approval was sequel to a letter sent to the Assembly and dated April, 3.

    Majority leader of the house representing Owan East Constituency, Hon Foly Ogedengbe informed his colleagues that the governor was thorough in the selection of nominees to hold key positions in the state.

    Speaker Justin Okonoboh on his part said the appointments of the 12 Special Advisers would enhance governance in the state.

    The lawmakers also approved the appointment of Mr Raphael Okhani, Egbe Godwin, Efosa Edenene, Frank Osazuwa and Jona Ifada as chairman and member of the Edo House of Assembly Service Commission.

    This followed the expiration of the tenure of former members of the commission on March 20, 2017.

     

  • ECOWAS advocates training for lawmakers

    The ECOWAS Parliament has advocated  inclusion of legislative practices and procedure in African universities’ curricula.

    This, it said, would help improve the quality of lawmaking and democratic process.

    Its Secretary-General, Dr. Nelson Magbagbeola, said the legislative processes of West African states needed to be harmonised as the region worked towards economic integration.

    He spoke in Lagos at a workshop on Comparative Parliamentary Practice and Procedure for Parliamentary Workers of ECOWAS Member States, drawn from three linguistic groups, namely Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone.

    It was organised by the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NLS), an organ of the National Assembly, in collaboration with ECOWAS Parliament and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF).

    Magbagbeola said the quality of legislative workers and lawmaking needed to be improved through specialised training, to equip African parliaments to discharge their oversight functions.

    “We want to encourage the universities to have curriculum on legislative practices and procedure.  It’s important that we are ready to sustain the democratic process.

    “Most of the officials in the executive arm of government are well trained. But there is asymmetric knowledge between officials of the legislature and the executive. It’s not easy to carry out oversight functions on people who know more than you do.

    “That is why we need to enhance the capacity of the parliamentary workers and the members of parliament. If a parliamentarian is not versed in financial reporting, how will he ask questions on oversight duties at ministries, departments and agencies? So we want to bridge that gap with this sort of training,” he said.

    The former Speaker, National Assembly of Burkina Faso, Prof. Melegue Traore, who was one of the resource persons, said the quality of legislation needs to improve if African parliaments must better control public policies.

     

  • Why politicians must emulate Tinubu, by lawmakers

    Why politicians must emulate Tinubu, by lawmakers

    Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa, Senator representing Lagos East Zone ‘Gbenga Ashafa,  Afenifere chieftain Senator Ayo Fasanmi, House of Representatives member James Faleke and others have saluted the courage, determination, commitment and the will to succeed displayed by All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    In different statements to celebrate the 65th birthday anniversary of the former governor, they urged politicians to emulate him.

    Obasa, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Musbau Razak, described Tinubu as the architect of modern Lagos.

    He stated that the ingenuity of the former governor turned the state once regarded as the dirtiest in the country to the cleanest and also achieved a mega city status.

    “He’s not only the architect of modern Lagos, he’s also a great leader of men, whose unrivalled ability to discover talent has led to the discovery of great leaders, who have turned out to become reference points in great leadership and good governance,” the Speaker said.

    Obasa added that Asiwaju Tinubu would continue to remain relevant and the main reference point in Nigerian politics because of his selfless and humane nature.

    “His love for the common man knows no bound and his passion for the development and growth of this great country makes him arguably Nigeria’s greatest politician of the present political dispensation,” he said.

    He said: “On behalf of other members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, I greet our leader and wish him more years of celebration in good health and wisdom.”

    Ashafa described Asiwaju as a leader, who would never be bereft of loyal followership.

    Noting that the former Lagos State governor has paid his dues by building able lieutenants, the senator hailed Tinubu for being selfless. He described the quality as “uncommon among political elite”.

    In his goodwill message, titled: “Toast to an uncommon leader at 65”, Ashafa said of Tinubu: “He’s clearly demonstrated that leadership is all about service. He has always shown leadership by example.

    “Asiwaju Tinubu has never done anything for selfish motives. He sacrifices personal comfort for the benefit of the society. He will continue to enjoy loyal, faithful and dedicated followership.

    “There no gainsaying in the fact that Asiwaju as a leader sees ahead of others. Two of his lieutenants, who took the mantle of leadership as governors have confirmed his ability to groom successors. His dream of taking Lagos to loftier heights has become a reality.”

    The senator urged other politicians to take a cue from Tinubu by showing genuine commitment to the wellbeing of the society.

    Fasanmi, in a statement, rejoiced with the APC national leader and showered encomiums on him for his achievements in Lagos State as a governor.

    According to the statement, Fasanmi said Tinubu transformed Lagos State, laid foundation for good governance and has become a leading light in national politics.

    ”At 65, you have assured for yourself a place of honour in the contemporary history and archives of our society. Please continue to remain firm like an anvil under the stroke. I wish you many happy returns of your birthday. The struggle continues. God bless,” the statement added.

    In his tribute, House of Representatives member Faleke described Tinubu as a leader of leaders and a dogged political fighter.

    Faleke, who is representing the Ikeja Federal Constituency, said the former Lagos State governor has demonstrated an unflinching fate in developing a generation of future leaders.

    According to him, the APC stalwart would rather stand alone rather than jump the ship to join the bandwagon.

    The federal lawmaker, in his message, titled: “Hearty Cheers to an ICON @ 65”, listed the sterling attributes that endeared Tinubu to his followers.

    He said: “We are inspired by your astute political leadership, motivated by your sense of purpose and encouraged by your selfless service to humanity. You are respected for your sense of focus and resilience and cherished for your love and compassion.”

    Congratulating the APC stalwart, who he called a dynamic strategist on his 65th birthday, Faleke said: “Your best is yet to come.”