Our Agenda for 9th Assembly, By Lawan, Gbajabiamila

Our Agenda for 9th Assembly, By Lawan, Gbajabiamila

…Say They Are Resolved to Rebuild the Legislature As An Institution Newly elected Senate President, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila have outlined their agenda for the 9th National Assembly, stressing that their objective is to work in concert with other arms of government to take the country

…Say They Are Resolved to Rebuild the Legislature As An Institution

Newly elected Senate President, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila have outlined their agenda for the 9th National Assembly, stressing that their objective is to work in concert with other arms of government to take the country to a new pedestal.

In their respective inaugural addresses, the new helmsmen say they intend to reform and rebuild the Legislature and work arduously to achieve the Nigerian dream of a better future. They also promised a more harmonious working relationship with the Executive.

“In the 9th Senate, no dream is too big to imagine, no challenge is too great to surmount. We will pursue our goal of a better and brighter future, we will no longer settle for anything less than the best,” says Lawan

According to him, “We will work with and collaborate with other arms of government to reclaim our country and restore our values. We will dream big, aim high and take bold initiatives. To this end, I will work with my colleagues to build actionable consensus around a robust legislative agenda that serves the best interest of majority of our people.”

“We will focus on improving the institutional capacity and capabilities of the Senate for effective performance of its constitutional and political duties in the most cost effective and service enhancing manner. Issues such as bill and motion progression and tracking, enhanced internal operations and funding of committees, an open and ICT enabled Senate will be on our front burner.

“We are going to work collaboratively with the executive arm of government to strengthen our planning and budget linkage that ensures effective service delivery and fulfilment of essential government obligations to the citizens, while taking care of the perennial delays in our annual appropriation bill passage and implementation.

“We will embark upon a sustained pursuit of national ethical renewal, through legislative and political support for the fight against corruption and other major security challenges that Nigeria faces today, namely; rural and highway banditry; inter-ethnic conflicts; herdsmen and farmer conflicts, cattle rustling; kidnapping and all other forms of criminality in the country.

“We have a plan to make Nigeria an economic growth hub and the most sought after business destination in Africa. This is to be achieved through legislative and policy coordination with the Executive Arm of Government to put in place the necessary reforms and legal instruments that promote the diversification and investment in the critical (real and service) sectors of the Nigerian economy.

On his part, Gbajabiamila says, “Nigerians are truly desirous of good governance and are looking to us to be the agents that will through meaningful legislation combat security, poverty, corruption and other problems and contradictions that have held our country back and stunted our development.”

According to the Speaker, “It is this message of unity and coming together that informed the theme of our campaign…NATION BUILDING, A JOINT TASK. We have decided to carry this theme into the operations of the 9th Assembly.”

“As you can see, the logo, which embodies all parties represented in the House, will be displayed permanently behind the Speakers chair for all to see and as a constant reminder of what this Assembly is all about. We must remain one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity. Our vision is very simple, and that is to use the legislative platform and the instrumentality of the law to make Nigeria a better and more perfect union.

“My deputy Hon Ahmed Idris and I come with a cumulative 30 year legislative experience which we intend to deploy in making our vision a reality. It was Winston Churchill that said “we make a living by what we get but we make by what we give a life”. I found those words very profound and Hon Wase and I intend to have fulfilment through what we will be giving for the next 4 years.

“There comes a time in the life and history of a people when they interrogate the past and present, review past sacrifices, miscalculations and errors and collectively decide to opt for change, peace and progress. We are at such a moment in this country. Hon Colleagues of the 9th Assembly this is our time, this is our moment and history beckons.

“The 9th Assembly under my leadership is going to be a House of reforms or if you like a reform Assembly. The reforms will be dished out piecemeal and at intervals so as not to shock the system. Moving forward therefore my dear colleagues, it will not be business as usual and we will be shaking the table just a little.

“We will be introducing various reforms that will reposition this institution but please rest assured that they will be for the greater good. On our shoulders lie the responsibility of working together as a House to safeguard the future of our great country. The House must be reformed before the country can be reformed.  We simply cannot and must not fail,” Gbajabiamila says.

Below is full text of their Addresses

Senator Ahmad Lawan

My fellow Distinguished Senators, I am pleased and privileged to stand before you today to commence a historic journey of selfless service as President of the 9th Senate. This is an extremely special moment for me. I humbly and gratefully accept my election as the President of the 9th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am deeply grateful to all my Distinguished Colleagues who overwhelmingly elected me to lead the 9th Senate as first among equals and for their gracious concession, I declare myself your Humble Servant and you Distinguished Senators as my true bosses in every sense of the word.

I acknowledge and salute three categories of people: your families and friends for their support and sacrifice; your various political parties on whose platforms you stood for election, and our constituents for their invaluable trust and goodwill in electing us into this position.

To all my fellow contestants, I say this is our collective victory for it was a very hard-fought campaign. They all did well. Permit me to pay a personal tribute to Distinguished Senator Danjuma Goje and others who withdrew from the race and graciously endorsed me. I am deeply grateful. Senator Ali Ndume put up a dogged fight and gave the race added-value. You all have worked tirelessly over the years and in particular in the past few months and I owe all of you Distinguished colleagues a debt of gratitude for your sterling services to our country. I congratulate all of us for the friendliness and camaraderie that was demonstrated during the intensive but rancour free campaign.

The elections are over and we are all back together in the spirit of one indivisible Senate, united in our commitment to work for the Nigerian people. Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our institution and renewing the Nigerian dream. I’ve spent the last 20 years learning the ropes of how to make the National Assembly work better. In this humbling and extremely critical role you have all agreed to assign to me, I pledge to do my best to serve the best interest of the institution, its members and the good people of Nigeria.

Today’s epochal event is symbolic in many respects. It marks the beginning of another decade in the annals of the country’s federal legislature, recognizing that the Fourth Republic National Assembly was first inaugurated twenty years ago, on June 4, 1999. So, today, as we commence the 3rd uninterrupted decade of our National Parliament, we pledge to remake, reform and revitalise the Senate in line with our constitutional duties, the urgent expectation of our citizens and global parliamentary best practices.

Our determination is to evolve a well-resourced Senate with a vision and a great sense of commitment to securing a prosperous future for our great nation. I strongly believe that for the 9th Senate to live up to this declaration, it must be operated as an institution that is largely accountable, participatory, collaborative and responsive to the needs, aspirations, rights and liberties of the masses whose mandate we hold in trust.

Let me reassure my Distinguished colleagues that in the discharge of my duties as the President of the 9th Senate, I will be fair and just to all, irrespective of party affiliations, religious and ethnic extractions. I, therefore, solicit for unalloyed support of all my Distinguished Colleagues. Together, we can reinvent a vibrant, robust and result-oriented Senate.

In the 9th Senate no dream is too big to imagine, no challenge is too great to surmount. We will pursue our goal of a better and brighter future, we will no longer settle for anything less than the best. We will work with and collaborate with other arms of government to reclaim our country and restore our values. We will dream big, aim high and take bold initiatives. To this end, I will work with my colleagues to build actionable consensus around a robust legislative agenda that serves the best interest of majority of our people.

To this end, we will focus on improving the institutional capacity and capabilities of the Senate for effective performance of its constitutional and political duties in the most cost effective and service enhancing manner. Issues such as bill and motion progression and tracking, enhanced internal operations and funding of committees, an open and ICT enabled Senate will be on our front burner.

We are going to work collaboratively with the executive arm of government to strengthen our planning and budget linkage that ensures effective service delivery and fulfilment of essential government obligations to the citizens, while taking care of the perennial delays in our annual appropriation bill passage and implementation.

We will embark upon a sustained pursuit of national ethical renewal, through legislative and political support for the fight against corruption and other major security challenges that Nigeria faces today, namely; rural and highway banditry; inter-ethnic conflicts; herdsmen and farmer conflicts, cattle rustling; kidnapping and all other forms of criminality in the country.

We have a plan to make Nigeria an economic growth hub and the most sought after business destination in Africa. This is to be achieved through legislative and policy coordination with the Executive Arm of Government to put in place the necessary reforms and legal instruments that promote the diversification and investment in the critical (real and service) sectors of the Nigerian economy.

We will frontally address the current high level of youth unemployment, underemployment and high use of illicit drugs as well as depression and high rate of suicide.

At the same time, we will collaborate with the House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly, with a view to having legislative partnerships that address the existential challenges of corruption, insecurity, emerging criminal gangs, kidnaping, poverty, decayed educational system that has left Nigeria with an embarrassing reported figure of 14 million out of school children.

I want to seize this opportunity to tell the entire nation, particularly those that are in doubt, that the Senate and indeed the legislature is going to operate independently in accordance with its own rules, procedures and time honoured norms and best practices. While working closely with the executive arm to deliver the dividends of democracy to the Nigerian people.

Our legislative agenda must focus on enacting laws and strengthening existing laws to facilitate the reforms required to truly take our nation, our people and our economy to the next level.

Within us as a Senate, our leadership will commit to partnership rather than partisanship and between us and the executive arm of Government, we will choose unity of purpose over conflict and discord while also working towards further strengthening and guaranteeing our independence and that of the judiciary. We will sustain and strengthen our institutional working relationship with critical stakeholders especially the Civil Society Organizations, the Media and Development Partners within and outside Nigeria.

In conclusion, let it be said that we have come to this chamber conscious of the trust our constituents have reposed on us. Dear colleagues, we must not betray that trust. To this extent, in the next four years, we must drive a transformative Senate dedicated to serving the people with confidence, courage and patriotism. Indeed, the urgent task towards socio-economic reforms and transformation through legislative intervention has begun.

In so doing, we are convinced that our past was only a story told while our future can yet be written in gold.

I thank you all,

May God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria.

SENATOR AHMAD IBRAHIM LAWAN, Ph. D; CON

PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE

FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA,

TUESDAY, 11TH OF JUNE, 2019,

Hon Femi Gbajabiamila

Good Evening Hon Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen. My name is Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker , House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

It is my honour and pleasure to address you today as the duly elected Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives. No greater honour can be done a man than to be elected by his peers as their leader and standard bearer. This is the honour you have given me today and from the bottom of my heart I say thank you. I thank Mr President, my Party leaders and colleagues across Party lines for the confidence reposed in me. I thank my wife and family for putting up with my long hours and being absent over the months but most importantly I thank the Almighty Allah for I see his thumb and footprints all over from the moment this campaign started.

Hon Colleagues, I understand that I hold this office in trust for you and Nigerians. Conscious of this sacred trust I hereby dedicate myself to the service of this Honourable House and of the good citizens of this great country, with the commitment that I shall at all times strive to defend the constitution of our Republic. I equally commit myself to always observe the tenets of justice, equity and fairness in my dealings with my colleagues, and to apply the ideals of transparency, probity and accountability in my management of the affairs of this Honourable House.

The Contest for the Speakership of this 9th Assembly is now over and its time to move on. Our country is presently confronted with a myriad of problems and it is our responsibility as members of this institution to set aside political, ideological and other differences that may distract us from the assignment the Nigerian people have sent us here to perform. There’s a lot more that unite us than divide us. There is much work to be done and we must now pull together, roll up our sleeves, settle down and attend to the people’s business.

Whatever political party each one of us may belong, we must be conscious of the fact that Nigerians are truly desirous of good governance and are looking to us to be the agents that will through meaningful legislation combat security, poverty, corruption and other problems and contradictions that have held our country back and stunted our development. It is this message of unity and coming together that informed the theme of our campaign…NATION BUILDING, A JOINT TASK. We have decided to carry this theme into the operations of the 9th Assembly.

As you can see, the logo, which embodies all parties represented in the House, will be displayed permanently behind the Speakers chair for all to see and as a constant reminder of what this Assembly is all about. We must remain one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity. Our vision is very simple, and that is to use the legislative platform and the instrumentality of the law to make Nigeria a better and more perfect union.

My deputy Hon Ahmed Idris and I come with a cumulative 30 year legislative experience which we intend to deploy in making our vision a reality. It was Winston Churchill that said “we make a living by what we get but we make by what we give a life”. I found those words very profound and Hon Wase and I intend to have fulfillment through what we will be giving for the next 4 years.

There comes a time in the life and history of a people when they interrogate the past and present, review past sacrifices, miscalculations and errors and collectively decide to opt for change, peace and progress. We are at such a moment in this country. Hon Colleagues of the 9th Assembly this is our time, this is our moment and history beckons.

The 9th Assembly under my leadership is going to be a House of reforms or if you like a reform Assembly. The reforms will be dished out piecemeal and at intervals so as not to shock the system. Moving forward therefore my dear colleagues, it will not be business as usual and we will be shaking the table just a little. We will be introducing various reforms that will reposition this institution but please rest assured that they will be for the greater good. On our shoulders lie the responsibility of working together as a House to safeguard the future of our great country. The House must be reformed before the country can be reformed We simply cannot and must not fail.

In this regard and so as to quickly hit the ground running I am announcing the appointment of Hon Sanusi Rikiji the former Speaker of Zamfara State as my Chief of Staff. Hon Sanusi comes with a wealth of legislative experience and I believe his inclusion in this Assembly will add immense value.

Hon Colleagues there’s much work to be done in such little time. Let’s roll our sleeves and get to work. Nigerians are waiting. God bless you all

Femi Gbajabiamila

Speaker, HORs

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