A front line contender for the
Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan, on Saturday gave reasons why he is most
suited to occupy the exalted position.
Lawan told journalists in Abuja
that the Senate under his watch will work in partnership with the executive arm
of government to make the country better through legislative engineering.
The Yobe North Senator, who spoke
in company with some of his colleagues, believed that the All Progressive
Congress (APC) by its clear majority in the Senate was positioned to produce
the Senate President.
Lawan, who is also the Senate
Leader, noted that the briefing was essentially to declare that he has
something unique to offer as the Senate President of the ninth Session.
He said that there is need to emphasise
the necessity to make the Senate more productive and more focused in its
legislative business.
He said, “This interaction is
important. After the elections, the APC emerged as the party with the majority.
We thank God. APC will be in the majority from 2019-2023.
“In fact, we have made more
progress than we did in 2015. We have about 65-66 senators-elect. Just like in
2015 when we sought to lead the Senate, we have come to the conclusion that we
have something to offer by leading the Senate and the entire National Assembly.
“We are not under any illusions.
We know that this requires a lot in terms of momentum and work we have to do to
make Nigeria better through legislative interventions. Also by working with
other arms of the government.
“You have known us for a long
time. You know our strengths and weaknesses. We need to project what we want to
offer.
“We need to tell Nigerians what
we can do. We need everyone in this journey of four years we will embark on
soon.
“I am asking for cooperation,
support and understanding of everyone. We want to work for everyone to ensure
that Nigeria is better and ensure that we receive the fairest deal from
government.
“By the grace of God, we make
serious positive changes. Nigerians voted for change. They have renewed their
commitment to APC this year. It means that Nigerians have faith in us. I thank
Nigerians for keeping faith with us in this dispensation.
“What we are doing is to reach
out to our colleagues, either elected or outgoing. We are talking to them about
our mission and why we are campaigning to lead the National Assembly.
“We are telling them why we need
to make the Senate more productive and more focused. APC senators are so
critical.
“We are reaching out to senators
from other political parties. We are going to be talking about it much later.
“Let me say that we are senators
who believe in party supremacy. We believe in the leadership of our party. The
leadership we are seeking is that of the Senate and the National Assembly.”
On how to avoid the June 9th,
2015 experience when Bukola Saraki emerged Senate president against the
position of the APC that had majority in the Senate he said: “APC must have
learnt it’s lessons. The leadership of the party will do something differently.
“I am sure that our leaders will
manage the huge success of APC. The party will find us very compliant and
supportive.”
Asked what in specific terms,
Nigerians should expect from him if he emerges the Senate President, he said:
“This is the most basic issue.
Let me say that I believe in what my party does. The current President
campaigned on security, anti-corruption and the economy.
“We have remained consistent as a
party and an administration. Our main task will be to support the President and
the party to implement the campaign promises.
“We want an economy that will
ensure an all inclusive growth. Our main constituency as a progressive party is
the ordinary people.
“It doesn’t means that the elite
are not with them. But those who worked for our success are those ordinary
people. It is crucial for our administration to come up with programmes that
will make life better for us.
“We will also support those in
the private sector so they can create jobs. We have worked hard as a government
in the last four years. We want to work harder going forward so that our youths
can get jobs that will grow the economy.
“We have social investment
programmes. We will have some reforms in that sector so it can deliver well.
Agriculture is one area we have worked on.
“Today, Nigeria doesn’t import
rice anymore. What that means is that, the billions of dollars spent on
importation are now within this country. In every part of the country, we
produce so much rice. That is wealth creation. Even though we have challenges
in that area, we have done well.
“We have areas of concerns in the
security sector. We need to support the Executive to always ensure that we
improve on it.
“When we came to government in
2015, so many parts of the country were under the control of Boko Haram
insurgents. We want to see a situation where the security architecture of the
country can be reformed.
“I headed the security
architecture ad-hoc committee in the Senate. We submitted our report. The
report recommended reforms in our armed forces.
“It is not about giving money. We
must have a structure that will utilise monies released prudently. Where the
Executive feels they need intervention, we will legislate.
“It is our mission to ensure that
this administration continues to fight against corruption. Most of the things
we are suffering in this country, it is because people have stolen public
funds.
“When you are able to curtail the
excesses in that regard, we will move forward. We should be proactive. We will
legislate to ensure that it will be difficult for people to steal in the public
and private sectors.
“As a country, why can’t we have
an anti-corruption court? We need to fast track legal processes and ensure that
those found guilty of any corruption charges are jailed instead of waiting for
up to 10 years.
“This gives the people the
confidence to steal since they know that our anti-corruption laws are weak.
“These are areas we will focus
on. We will focus on our education. We will review it to conform with the
current day reality.
“We will ensure that our
graduates get a good deal. We will look at law reforms. Those that require
total overhaul will get that.
“We have to have a bipartisan
chamber. We will disagree from time to time because of some issues. But because
we are senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we will remain united. I
was in the opposition for 16 before we became part of the party in government.
Even as an opposition, we knew when to oppose and support the government.
“Take for instance security. Is
there any senator who will oppose the improvement on security? We will work to
achieve the desired unity. There will be equity and fairness in the chamber.
Once we unit around national interest, we will contribute meaningfully to
governance.
“We will do something to support
the Executive. By the way, who said we will never disagree with the Executive?
By design, we are meant to disagree. But when we disagree, we should sit down
and look at issues. Every issue must be based on national interest.”
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