The House of Representatives
Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Wednesday, delivered his valedictory speech.
Gbajabiamila occupied the seat as
Speaker of the Ninth Assembly from 2019 to 2023.
President Bola Tinubu had last
Friday appointed Gbajabiamila as his Chief of Staff.
Below is the Gbajabiamila’s valedictory speech as House of Representatives Speaker:
VALEDICTORY SPEECH TO THE 9TH
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BY REP. FEMI GBAJABIAMILA, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES (2019 – 2023). WEDNESDAY, 7TH JUNE 2023.
PROTOCOLS
Honourable colleagues, fellow
Nigerians:
1. I thank God almighty, by whose
grace and mercy we have gathered here once more in the people’s House to do our
duty even as our time in the 9th House of Representatives comes to an end.
2. This will be the last time I
address you from this dais as the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives.
It has been the honour of my life to serve our beloved country from this
honourable House. I am profoundly grateful to the people of Surulere 1 Federal
Constituency for allowing me to represent them for the last twenty years. And I
am grateful to you, my dear colleagues, for the honour and privilege of serving
as Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives for the last four years. All
glory belongs to the almighty God, who ordains our destinies and guides our path.
3. In the years since I first
stepped into this hallowed chamber, the House of Representatives has changed
profoundly, just as our country has changed too. Yet, in all that time, I have
not witnessed change on a scale and with such speed as has been the case in the
last four years. We have lived through a global pandemic that nobody anywhere
saw coming. We have governed at a time of global crises and relentless
transformations to the global economy. We have seen our nation’s politics come
of age with a new generation of young people determined to have a seat at the
table and prepared to fight for it, whatever the cost. Just in the last few
days, we have seen the end of a subsidy regime that has distorted the energy
market in our country for over thirty years.
4. When change happens at this
scale and with such an unrelenting pace, it creates challenges and
opportunities almost in equal measure. Over the last four years, this House of
Representatives has worked to ensure that our country can overcome these
challenges and take advantage of the moment to achieve economic, social, and
political transformations that benefit all the Nigerian people. We elevated the
debates in the House of Representatives and made this chamber the arena for
informed exchanges about Nigeria’s future and the welfare of all our nation’s
people. We have left our mark in every sector of our national life and
positively impacted people’s lives across our country.
5. We introduced discipline into
the appropriations process by implementing a January to December budget cycle
that ended the policy instability and economic uncertainty of the previous
irregular budget cycles. We reformed the oversight process to ensure greater
collaboration between the arms of government. We made it easier for citizens to
access details of budget expenditures so that they, too, can be part of the
process of ensuring accountability in the administration of public funds. We
did not yield our constitutional obligation to ensure faithful compliance with
the letter and spirit of the Appropriation Act by the Ministries, Departments
and Agencies of the government.
6. While the strategic importance
of the oil and gas sector to Nigeria’s socioeconomic well-being has long been
apparent, successive administrations failed to put in place a functional
statutory regime to allow that sector to function optimally. We ended that
legacy of lethargy with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). With
the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act, we went
even further to put the sector on the right footing. These statutory reforms
rightfully ought to have happened a long time ago. Now, we must ensure that the
reforms contained in these Acts are dutifully implemented as part of a broader
energy policy suited to the realities of technological advancements and the
evolving demands of the global energy market.
7. We passed the Police Act to
change the nature of relations between the police and citizens in our country
and ensure that police officers who fall short of their responsibilities can be
quickly held accountable. The Act expressly prohibits police officers from
arresting citizens for civil wrongs, imposes an obligation on the police to
inform citizens of their rights at the point of arrest, and mandates the police
to ensure that persons arrested have access to their families and legal
representation. In addition, the Act established the Police Complaints Units as
a statutory organ accessible to the public to report police misconduct and
empowered to initiate action when such reports are received.
8. These reforms did not end
police misbehaviour in our country; soon enough, there was a national
reckoning. We responded by working with the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to
establish a new framework of accountability to hold erring members of the
Police Force to account for their conduct in the performance of their duties
and compel the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) to take responsibility for the
failures of training and discipline that leads to such wrongful conduct. And we
appropriated the sum of Five Hundred Million Naira through the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC) to compensate victims of police brutality nationwide.
I sincerely hope that the work of police reform will continue in the House of
Representatives until we achieve a system of policing that meets our nation’s
needs and reflects the best of us.
9. When in March 2020, the
covid-19 virus entered our shores, we became bound with the world in
experiencing a tragic disruption to our economic, political, and social lives,
unlike anything we have ever witnessed. This House of Representatives responded
by taking active measures to protect the Nigerian people, including those who
work here in the National Assembly. We passed the Emergency Economic Stimulus
Bill to grant companies a rebate on Companies Income Tax, suspend import duties
on medicines, medical equipment, personal protective equipment, and other
essential medical materials and defer mortgage obligations on residential
mortgages by contributors to the National Housing Fund.
10. We also passed the Emergency
Relief and Assistance Bill to provide a limited salary guarantee for low-income
permanent employees of companies registered and operating in Nigeria, relieve
legal consumers of electricity in Nigeria of the burden of electricity charges
for a limited period and suspend for a fixed period, the implementation of the
Value Added Tax (VAT) provisions of the Finance Act 2020. Whilst these
legislations did not pass in the Senate and never became law, they provided the
framework for the federal government’s policy response to the pandemic, as the
policy ideas contained therein were adopted and variously implemented through
executive orders and subsequent legislations.
11. We worked to establish, under
emergency conditions, a fully functioning care facility in the Federal Capital
Territory under the management of the National Centre for Disease Control
(NCDC). We intervened to prevent potentially devastating strike action by
doctors and ensure that the medical professionals at the fore of our response
to the pandemic were remunerated correctly and provided the allowances due to
them. We reviewed the statutory framework for managing infectious disease
outbreaks and proposed the Infectious Disease Bill to reform an area of our
laws that hadn’t been examined for a century. In an act of service for which I
remain proud and thankful, members of this House volunteered their salaries to
the covid relief fund to support the needs of the most vulnerable in our
society.
12. The legislative legacy of the
9th House of Representatives includes the Companies and Allied Matters Act and
the Nigeria Start-Up Act, two critical legislations aimed at changing the way
we do business in Nigeria by streamlining regulations, reducing red tape, and
setting the conditions for the private sector to innovate, thrive and grow. Our
legacy also includes the comprehensive electoral reforms in the Electoral Act
that have changed forever for good the way we conduct elections in Nigeria.
While we recognise the need to continue to work to improve election management
in Nigeria, we must acknowledge the vast improvements that have happened since
the return to democracy. And we take pride in our contribution to these
improvements over the last four years.
13. Through the constitutional
review process, the House of Representatives sought to restructure our
government to make it more effective, reorganise our politics to make it more
inclusive, enshrine efficient mechanisms for holding the institutions of state
to account and put an end to the debilitating conflicts that even now continue
to tear our nation apart. We made an audacious attempt to create a constitution
that addresses once and for all the fundamental issues that distract from
nation-building. The constitutional amendments we enacted devolved power and
responsibilities over critical areas of our national life in an effort to spur
innovation and healthy competition at the subnational level. By our joint effort,
we achieved financial independence for state houses of assembly and state
judiciary, granting greater autonomy to these arms of government in line with
democratic best practice.
14. To succeed in our shared
ambition of building a prosperous and peaceful country, we must do everything
within our power to ensure that our daughters and those yet to be born can grow
up in a more open, more equal society than their mothers did. Unfortunately, we
did not succeed in removing some of the constitutional barriers that have long
stood in the way of women’s full and unhindered participation in the politics,
governance and economy of our nation. This issue must continue to be at the
fore of our national conversations. I hope the 10th House of Representatives will
take up the mantle and do better than we did.
15. Beyond legislative
interventions, the 9th House of Representatives will be remembered for our
efforts to change how we do the business of parliament, most notably for
introducing information technology tools through the e-parliament project and
establishing the National Assembly Library Trust Fund. The National Assembly
Library Trust Fund will ensure that the National Assembly is operationally
suited to meet the needs of the Nigerian people by providing modern library and
research infrastructure, training and capacity development for legislators and
aides and operating as a resource centre for the legislature, and all who have
any interest in legislative endeavours.
16. This 9th House, with
unwavering courage and determination, defended the rights and dignity of the
Nigerian people abroad from every attempt to dehumanise and victimise our
people. Our interventions on behalf of Nigerians in China during the pandemic
put an end to recurrent incidents of abuse, just as our efforts on behalf of
Nigerians in South Africa and Ghana caused the governments of those nations to
step up action to protect the lives and property of our citizens in those
countries. From Ghana to South Africa, from China to the United States of
America, we made it clear that this parliament will defend the rights of our
citizens to conduct their legitimate businesses without fear of molestation and
that the wellbeing of Nigerians remains our business whether home or abroad.
This model of parliamentary diplomacy has become a legitimate tool for
back-channel interventions to resolve conflicts involving our citizens around
the world. It is an approach that ought to be sustained and improved.
17. We convened a Summit on
National Security to examine our national security and defence infrastructure
and identify critical areas of improvement. I hope that work to ensure our
borders are secure and our people are safe will continue in the next assembly
and throughout government. Through the Conference of Speakers and Heads of
African Parliaments (CoSAP), we have initiated a new and promising framework
for interparliamentary cooperation across the continent to address our shared
challenges and build better networks for collaboration, progress, and prosperity.
This effort should continue in the best interests of our country and continent.
18. Honourable colleagues,
despite the considerable investments we have made to improve our public
infrastructure and the numerous reforms we have enacted to change how we
administer the government, our country faces many significant challenges. These
challenges have caused many of our fellow citizens to wonder if the promise of
democracy will ever become real in their lives. Too many of our young people
have lost faith entirely and are choosing in droves to seek their fortunes and
their futures in other lands. We are losing some of our best and brightest, and
if we don’t act now, the consequences of this loss will shortly become
painfully evident.
19. How do we ensure a healthy,
vigorous, growing economy that provides opportunities for all who work hard to
succeed through their labour and ingenuity? How do we protect our people from
the marauders and insurgents, the petty criminals and assorted villains who
wish to harm them, whether for profit or in service of other agendas? How do we
restore faith in our young people so that so many of them no longer feel like
the only way to achieve their best aspirations is to chase their fortunes in
far away, often hostile lands? These are the critical questions all of us in
government must answer or risk the unforgiving judgment of history. With each
new day, we have an opportunity to make the hard choices and take the necessary
actions to guarantee our nation’s future. With each new day, we have less time
to act and a more outstanding obligation to act quickly.
20. As you are all aware, the
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed
Tinubu GCFR, has nominated me to continue serving the people of Nigeria as
Chief of Staff in the Presidency. I am humbled by this new call to duty, and I
am grateful to all of you who have reached out to me. I have long believed that
the ultimate end of all political and governance efforts must be to achieve
measurable improvements in the lives of the people on whose behalf we hold
office. This fundamental belief in the responsibility of government to be a
force for good has been my guiding light. It will continue to be so in my new
endeavours. I humbly ask for your prayers and support in this new chapter. I
assure you that in this new role, I will work to ensure a cordial and
productive relationship between the executive and legislative arms of
government whilst respecting the independence and prerogatives of the legislature.
21. For everything, there is a
time and season, and we are obligated each season to do the most and the best
we can in the time we have. This is a good rule for politics and for life
itself. The 9th House of Representatives is ending, and the 10th will shortly
be convened. All of us, those whose time in office is ending, and those for
whom duty continues, will face the judgment of history. I urge you to keep this
in mind and let your actions be guided by the desire to ensure that you are not
found wanting by man or God in the final judgment. As a member and Speaker of
this honourable House, I have travelled the length of this country, and I have
been amazed by the talent and capacity, dogged determination, and resilience of
the Nigerian people. The abundance of these qualities among our people assures
me that if government lives up to its responsibilities, our people are ready to
do the rest. So, we must live up to our responsibilities; there is no other
option.
22. I want to express my sincere
appreciation to the civil servants and aides who have toiled tirelessly with me
during my time here; I thank you all most sincerely for your service. I want
you to know that the roles you play in keeping this institution running are
crucial to achieving the kind of country we desire. I urge you to please take
pride in performing those roles credibly at all times. Reach for excellence in
all you do, and resist the cynicism and pessimism that encourages laziness and
ineptitude. I also wish to thank our compatriots in the media for their
dedicated efforts in ensuring that the exercise of state and economic power is
fair and proper and in service of the greater good. A lot of the work we do in
the legislature would not be possible without the support and partnerships of
civil society organisations and development partners. I want to especially
thank the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), the Nigeria Bar Association
(NBA), Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and several others who have proven worthy
partners in progress.
23. For the better part of my
adult life, I have traversed the halls of this complex, legislated from the
chamber of this hallowed House and built relationships with people from across
the country, colleagues past and present. I have met and established genuine
bonds of brotherhood with some of the most amazing human beings, and together
we have shared experiences that strengthened those bonds. As I transition into
my new role, a role unlike the one I have had for these many years, I ask for
your support and best wishes as we continue to work together to advance the
cause and fulfil the promise of Nigeria. I will miss all of you, and I will
miss this House. I want you to rest assured that wherever the road takes me, I
will carry you all in my heart fondly because you have enriched my life in ways
words alone cannot fully express.
24. Nigeria is an unfinished
story, a long tale of promise and peril, and our final chapters have not been
written yet. Some persist in believing that this grand nation is a victim of
history, that our destiny has already long been written, and that we cannot
escape from it. I do not subscribe to this view. In fact, I reject it entirely.
Indeed the world today is being remade by profound and powerful forces, and it
may seem our destiny no longer lies within our control. But we are a proud and
resilient people with a limitless capacity for excellence. All that we hope to
be, we can. All that we desire is within reach. Our greatest successes as a
nation will come when we work together across party lines, without considering
differences of tribe and tongue, religion and creed towards the shared goals of
our nationhood – peace and prosperity, equity and justice for all.
25. As we bring this 9th House of
Representatives to a close, I am proud to say that by our joint effort at
nation-building, we have ensured that the cause of Nigeria will long endure and
the dreams of our nation’s founding fathers will not die. We came, we saw, and
while there is much yet to conquer, we have done our duty to God and country. I
came to this honourable House twenty years ago, filled with hope for our
nation’s future. I leave this office today with hope unbroken, and my
enthusiasm to serve remains undiminished. I am more confident that our best
days are ahead and that we can build a future where our nation is a beacon of
excellence, a refuge and a place of pride for all who salute our flag and swear
allegiance to our constitution. This is a future worth fighting for; this is
the future I will never stop fighting for.
26. Thank you, goodbye, God bless
you, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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