For any legislature to excel in connecting the people to good governance and protecting them from power abuse, or become a truly institutionalized manifestation of the people’s will or sovereignty; it must be a very vigilant one as well as embody the truism that leaders are elected to create opportunities or provide solutions and not problems. In addition, the leadership of such parliament must be effective, responsive, courageous, visionary and creatively ambitious.
Also, there are categories of persons that have already formed strong opinions about organizations and individuals to the extent that despite availability of contrary-but-superior information, they are indifferent and or, uninterested in the affairs of such entities. In other words, they have made up their minds and determined to hold on to whatever narratives that suit their disposition about their targets. Then again, organizations and individuals at one point or another in their existence face some kinds of hostilities from varied segments of the public. Though all these stem from several societal factors interplaying to shape human perceptions about the social environment, they are chiefly sequel to past experiences and accumulated information over time.
So in attempting in this case, to objectively assess the 9th senate, it should be noted that the cumulative effects of the foregoing situations have seemingly diminished every meaningful progress made by the senate in the last one year. And above all, the performance rating has to be bench-marked against what was on ground as at inception so as to arrive at a balanced judgement.
Shortly after inauguration, the 9th senate was labelled a rubber-stamp legislature. In particular, it was fiercely criticized for upholding the bow-and-go principle while screening the ministerial nominees. Incidentally, the engendered closer legislature-executive collaboration coupled with seamless approvals to presidency’s request to borrow, understandably corroborated this insinuation of compromise.
The senate was further dismissed as being insensitive to the point of settling for expensive vehicles in the face of struggling economy, in addition to the N37b national assembly renovation proposal. It did not end there. The senate was accused of shortchanging the country through constituency projects and what has been serially termed “jumbo salary”; which added impetus to the alleged senators’ indifference to calls for reduction in the cost of governance. And to worsen it all, the social media and hate speech bills amounted to clear evidence of a ‘draconian’ parliament. Put together, with the coincidence of the unabated insecurity, banditry and terrorism, the senate was portrayed in the worst of light.
The Coming Of Ahmad Lawan
Though the headship of the 9th senate is firstly, a product of endorsements by political party, it emerged in a democratic atmosphere that allowed the senators opportunities to willingly and confidentially express themselves. There were no external interferences. At least, there was live transmission of the proceedings.
Also notably prior to his election, he was very assertive, about his disposition for a mutually-beneficial relationship with the other arms, particularly the executive, in the overall interest of the country. This is widely-acknowledged as his major selling proposition during the build-up.
Weathering The Storm
Yet in the midst of those inherited and aggravated odds, the 9th senate was determined to make a mark particularly. What triggered that sense of resilience is obviously that this session is predominated by Nigerians who are overly passionate about a regenerated Nigeria despite their different backgrounds. Above all, its president, Ahmad Lawan, came to leadership with a true service mentality inspired by a mindset to reorient the senate and by extension, the national assembly towards reflecting the true ideals and aspirations of Nigerian masses because the functions of the legislature are central to success and survival of democracy. Consistently also, he advocates that collaboration in governance is a safe route to achieving government’s set objectives and goals, relative to security and welfare of the citizenry.
And to this effect, he had a handy strategic template principally to revolutionize the economy which he summed up with the declaration that “in the laws we enact, in the oversight and representations we undertake, the wellbeing of the Nigerian people will always be our priority”. The key priority areas include insecurity, education, wealth creation as well as general development of infrastructure, with profound interest in power generation.
But to achieve a strong foundation, Lawan admitted that “to effectively address the crisis of confidence between the Senate and the general public, the 9th Senate shall adopt a transparent and accountable system that offers full disclosure of its budget in terms of personnel costs, operational expenses and other expenditure”.
His colleagues keyed into the agenda which no doubt, is the bedrock for the unity of purpose and near collegiality that defines the senate. Religious, regional and partisan ideologies are subsumed into the larger patriotic zeal to rightfully take back the legislature to the people. As a deliberate policy, it is only legislations and interventions that have direct bearings on good governance and effective service delivery that are entertained.
Then importantly as well, there should be close collaboration among the three arms of government, through democratic processes and principles driven by creative engagements, if indeed the people are the ultimate goal of governance.
Rubber Stamp Legislature
Ahmad Lawan has been consistent that “the senate under my leadership, will jealously guard its independence while diligently playing its part in ensuring that the task of national development moves forward with urgency. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is very clear on what functions the legislature performs and what functions are cut out for the Executive arm of government.
If you are going to serve the same people under the same government, you are not supposed to be going towards different direction. It means you have to come together in such a manner that is characterized by mutual respect, partnership and cooperation. I have been in the National Assembly for a very long time to see what the hostility and rancorous relationship can lead to and what good relationship could bring”. He has sustained this ideology and so far, there is yet to be a proven case of compromise or highhandedness in his leadership.
But ironically to most Nigerians, any parliament that is not seen to be ‘fighting’ with the executive is a rubber stamp and not independent. Whether ignorantly or deliberately, these individuals show no understanding that it is only when the three arms complement each other that governance is adjudged good and delivering. As such, the insinuation that the 9th senate is being unduly influenced by the executive is vague as there is no definite legislative infraction it is tied to. It is rather politically-motivated.
Bow-And-Go Syndrome
By the same token, these compatriots feign ignorance of global parliamentary conventions that confer some kind of privileges on certain categories of persons based primarily on antecedence, relative to plenary procedures and practices. Beneficiaries of such peculiar rules are not subjected to regular or rigorous questionings as they are presumed to be well-known to the parliament.
Those waivers are not the creations of the Nigerian senate and have been in force even since independence. Meanwhile, whereas it is the prerogative of the president to appoint those he believes could complement him in exercising his mandate, the senate is to screen and confirm exclusively within the contexts of nationality and relative literacy.
The laws do not provide for specific modes of performing this function. Besides, nominees traditionally present their details ahead of physical appearances at the floor, which also are accessible for scrutiny to any interested party. So again, it is a misplaced verdict for the senate to be condemned for upholding an existing tradition, except for deliberate political expediency.
But Senator Lawan is certain that “for those who are in the habit of saying rubber stamp; either they don’t understand what the legislature is supposed to do, or some of them are mischievous or some of them are in opposition to government and therefore, they will be happier to see disputations, conflicts, disagreements and chaos and the consequent lack of productivity in the National Assembly or the Senate particularly”.
Unarguably, N5.5b is such a huge amount to be spent on vehicles amidst a failing economy. But again, this is a constitutional matter that obtains in all the arms and tiers of government. Operational cars are essential components of public service requisitions and are duly budgeted for. The costs are deducted from the emoluments of beneficiaries over time. It is not in doubt that for a legislature to deliver efficiently, adequate mobility is a necessity.
Preceding assemblies enjoyed such priviledges, including even judicial officers. And in this dispensation precisely, others noiselessly processed theirs. But because we have today, a senate that is transparent, though unfortunately being haunted by sins it did not commit, the legitimacy of working vehicles is being deliberately questioned. This smacks of yet another proof of transferred aggression. Similarly, the salaries and emoluments of the tiers and arms of government are centrally –determined by a governmental agency. So now that it has indeed become imperative, the processes for cutting down the cost of governance especially through salaries review, should be holistic rather than purposefully isolating the national assembly for subjective criticisms.
National Assembly Renovation
Justifiably also, the expressed concerns about the approval granted for the presidency to borrow $30 billion as well as the budgetary allocation of N37 billion for renovation of the National Assembly complex are not misplaced, especially in view of the struggling economy. Though it has since been reduced to N9.2b, let it be noted that the project did not in any way originate from the national assembly. It is part of the federal capital territory’s budget because the maintenance of national assets in the FCT is a direct responsibility of the federal capital development authority, FCDA who in this case prepared the estimates. So once again, the unfair criticism of the national assembly over the proposal is a reflection of the inherited misconceptions about its affairs.
Nevertheless, the national assembly would be failing the nation if it does not hold the executive accountable in this particular instance by way of ensuring due diligence and eliminating wastages based on the recently amended Procurement Act.
Social Media And Hate Speech Bills
Within the period, unfortunately, there were two pieces of legislation that practically unsettled the larger youth and the elite population of the country. But because national interest guides all legislative considerations of the 9th senate as well as other interventions; Lawan, in response to the outcry that trailed the “social media and hate speech bills”, maintains that “the Senate will not pass any anti-people laws.” He rather directed that the views of the public through their representatives be harvested and critically-reviewed before definite stand would be taken. This is a clear indication that the proposed laws were not after all cast in stone despite the suspicions, interpretations and sentiments of the critics.
Burden Of Loans?
Then regarding the concerns about the approvals to borrow granted the presidency, even when there was a refusal in the past, it is note-worthy that there is a difference in approach between this senate and previous ones. According to Lawan “the situations are not the same. In 2016 there were no details.
I think the presidency has learnt its lesson. This time, the presidency brought the requests with every possible detail. If we don’t have money and you have projects to build, how will you provide infrastructure that you need? But one thing is that we are going to be critical that every cent that is borrowed is tied to a project. These are projects that will have spill-over effects on the economy and we will undertake our oversight so well to ensure that such funds are properly, prudently, economically and transparently applied on those projects.
I want to inform this gathering and, indeed, Nigerians that the letter conveying the loan request of the executive came with every possible detail and, in fact, we will ensure that we are getting the right information from the executive arm of government…. you will agree with me that some projects are time-bound, so such projects suffer. Where revenues could not be enough, definitely not every aspect of the budget will be implemented.
But it is our desire that every aspect of the budget will be implemented. Coming to oversight, we want to be different this time around. Just like we had tried to be different in the processes of the budget and by the grace of God, it worked. We want to do our oversight very well. We want to have a time that we call oversight time frame within which we are able to assess, evaluate not only implementation of the various provisions in the budget but even the generation, collection of the revenues because we need to attack or address the issue of revenue generation, collection and remittance as quickly.”
Elsewhere, he recently Lawan further elaborated that “with COVID-19, the price of crude oil came to as low as $11pb or so. Now, you will not get probably more than 40 to 45 per cent of the revenue you need to implement your budget, and yet you need to provide for Nigerians.
You don’t have the money, you don’t have the resources to match what you need to provide for the citizens, the most logical thing for you to do is to ensure that you define your projects and your programmes for national development to be absolutely focused on those areas that are needed most because you have to cut cost and then project your revenues realistically. What is expected of you as a government is to look for those bilateral and multilateral facilities that are cheap, one per cent, 10 years moratorium, 20 years moratorium; one per cent interest rate, 1.2 per cent interest rate and deploy the resources in those areas.
So, the parliament should say no, no, no we are not going to approve money, go and do only those things that our money, our revenues, our resources can handle, apparently, that won’t be a good thing for the parliament to do. What the parliament should do, and that is what we are going to do, is to say okay, this is your request; $5.513bn for Federal Government and $1.5bn for states. The Federal Government, come and defend how you are going to use your $5.513bn, show us the projects, first of all, show us the condition of the loan, what are the conditions?
The interest rate, the moratorium (the period which we will start payment) and when we are satisfied, then we say what are the projects, we are satisfied that the projects are essential, what next? We say okay, we are going to approve, but we are also going to do our oversight.
Our committee on local and foreign debts have done so much work, they have screened the projects. The Minister of Finance and her team came and defended the projects, the committee was so thorough that when the Ministry of Finance could not defend the $1.5bn for states, it recommended we should not approve that, and the Senate didn’t approve. When there is sufficient information on how the $1.5bn would be deployed by the states, then we can consider it again, but as for this, I can’t see any other way”.
Budget
And in furtherance of its economic rebirth goal, this senate embraced fully the duty of strengthening budgeting for sustainable national development, as this essential task had been serially relegated. Lawan repeatedly stressed that towards revamping the economy “the budget 2020 is going to be part of what we want to do differently from the previous sessions of the Senate”.
On the rationale behind his quest for change in fiscal cycle, Lawan argued that “we believe that if we are able to do that, our budget will go back to that regular cycle, that desirable cycle of January to December and that will enhance the budget performance of this country in the interest of national growth, development and well-being of our people”.
But he was emphatic on the “need to match budget projections with fund release if accountability is to be appreciable. Proper documentation of financial activities and reduced political interventions in the budgetary process are additionally important steps to follow. We should try to reduce frivolous items on the recurrent expenditure list to increase our disposition to produce, ensure judicious expenditure process and to guarantee value-for-money”.
Lawan rallied both chambers to jerk up the initial budget proposal upon discovery that certain critical interests of the masses were not provided for, especially issues about security. Also the draft budget of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was rejected until some vital adjustments were effected. And it would be recalled that the senate refused to recognize the interim management committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) set up by the executive. President Muhammadu Buhari had to write explaining the reasons for continuity of the team. Yet there is a notion in certain quarters that the legislature is under the undue influence of the executive.
Power Sector
Then on the economic diversification quest, the senate president had proposed in his agenda that “the senate will take the necessary legislative initiatives to facilitate massive investments in developing the real sectors of the economy, agriculture, solid minerals, industry, and construction as well as the rapid expansion and modernisation of the nation’s infrastructure, power, railroads, harbours, seaports, roads and bridges, airports and inland waterways”. Towards this dimension despite suffered distractions and disruptions, Lawan announced that the senate held “roundtable discussions on three critical sectors of our economy. This exercise started with the power sector. We held a similar exercise on the steel and solid minerals sector and, we are focusing on the agriculture sector. Solid minerals and agriculture offer us great potential to transform our economy and revenue profile and wean Nigeria from the current unsustainable reliance on oil. We are still expecting the reports of the relevant committees on these three sectors but I can assure Nigerians that this senate is ready and willing to confront all these problems head-on through appropriate legislative interventions. In doing this, we shall be complementing the initiatives of the Executive in this direction”. This of course, is another perspective to collaboration in governance.
Still in this regard, there is an ongoing legislative probe of over 1.8 billion naira investment in the power sector because according to Lawan in empathizing with Nigerians, “we feel very bad. There is no electricity and the country is suffering. I think it’s time for Nigeria to consider reversing the privatization of the power sector or they should just cancel the entire privatization process completely”.
Insecurity
Insecurity is another area that challenges the responsiveness of the senate. Lawan is evidently worried about it. He has severally and openly decried the inability of the executive to provide security of lives and properties for the citizenry. In each instance, he called for drastic measures to be initiated by the executive. Equally, he led the national assembly to several urgent legislative interventions.
He repeatedly lamented that “the security situation in our country requires serious attention and due consideration by the senate and indeed the national assembly. Recently the security in the country had deteriorated and the attendant loss of lives is not acceptable. We need to secure the lives and property of our citizens, as enshrined in our constitution. We all are witnesses to how our economy is also affected by the inclement security situation.
Therefore, we need to speedily seek for solutions to fix the security problem bedevilling our dear country. There is urgent need for paradigm shift and reform of the architecture and structure of our security systems. Equally important is citizen participation and collaboration in providing security. In this regard, the senate will engage the executive arm of government to discuss the implementation of the recently launched National Security Strategy, (NSS) 2019”.
Meanwhile, he had proposed in his agenda that “the 9th senate shall focus on legislative intervention as a matter of urgency, to effect a change of course in security, economy and other fundamental needs of Nigerians”. And walking the talk, there is today a blueprint for total review of the security architecture of the country which is a product of intensive and extensive parliamentary deliberations and researches of the two chambers of the national assembly. So it calls for sufficient political will on the part of the executive to deal with this nagging issue of insecurity. The legislature has done its part.
It is also note-worthy that towards minimizing costs, Lawan introduced joint-approach tactics to oversight functions whereby both chambers’ committees of same jurisdictions undertake their duties simultaneously as against what obtained previously where separate committees performed same functions with attendant huge expenditure. It was on the strength of this that both committees of the national assembly on Army went on an assessment visit to the military operational headquarters and the epicentre of insurgency, where they identified combination of equipment deficit and underfunding as the major setback to the efforts of government to put an end to the scourge. This actually necessitated the basis for increasing the security budgetary provisions.
NDDC
And again worried by the Niger-Delta region’s slow development, the senate is investigating the Niger-Delta Development Commission, NDDC, over allegations of sabotage and maladministration. Inaugurating the ad-hoc committee, Lawan hinted that “our mindset in the Senate is that we must have NDDC that is efficient in service delivery to the people of Niger Delta. This is the essence of setting up that commission. So, we want to see a situation where the very limited resources appropriated for NDDC are prudently and transparently deployed for the development of the Niger Delta region. This is our mindset and we will not shy away from our responsibility at any time we feel that is not happening”. Success are already being made in this direction, to the benefit of the oil-rich region.
Collaboration With Judiciary
Strikingly also and in rare display of strategic leadership, Lawan expanded his idea of collaboration by instituting a Joint Committee to Ease Passage of Bills comprising the legislature, executive and judiciary. This is extremely necessary because according to him, “we believe the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has given us joint responsibilities when law will be made for the good governance of our country. It is either a bill starts its journey from the executive side of government and comes to the Legislature before the assent or the legislature initiates the bill and of course the bill goes to the President for his assent.
“We have had some experiences that were not too good in the past when bills will be passed and of course, the executive would have some reasons not to assent to the bills. Or, when bills would come from the executive arm of government and the Legislature will think otherwise. Maybe the gap was wide, the consultation was low and we believe we can do better when we encourage this kind of relationship and interaction
“We believe the interaction, the consultation will ensure that any possible grey areas in the bill that emanates from the executive will be addressed before the final form of that bill…The existence of this committee will not in any way take away that responsibility of the National Assembly to critically scrutinize anything that the Executive brings to the National Assembly.
“All we are trying to do is to ensure that we reduce the gap, that we create a platform for understanding, that we are able to pass laws much more easily and of course, make Nigeria a better place by so doing”.
This initiative has proven truly productive even though not very much have been achieved because major focus is on legislations that have direct bearings on the people.
Consequently, the national assembly has since passed three bills that are very critical to Nigeria’s quick economic stimulation. They are the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract (Amendment) Bill 2019, the Finance Bill and the Public Procurement Act (Amendment) Bill 2019. The anticipated successes of the 2020 budget, before the COVID-19 pandemic, directly depended on these legislations.
Legislative efforts were equally spared towards constitution amendments. The committees of the two chambers have since been mobilized and receiving memoranda before the unfortunate outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which also disrupted the gains of the January-December fiscal cycle and timely passage of the 2020 budget achievements. Also, there have been other sundry-but-critical outputs, including confirmations of nominees for appointment, aimed at enabling governance to operate seamlessly and deliver welfare and security but may not be tangible until adequately processed by the executive arm.
PIB
The president of the senate has continued to accord special premium to the Petroleum Industry Bill. Recognizing the setbacks that have combined to frustrate it since 2007, and while relying on the collaboration in governance strategy, Lawan hinted that “the National Assembly will this time around adopt a different approach to make the passage of the PIB a reality. We want to see a situation where the Legislature and the Executive work very closely to have a PIB that will attract investment into the oil and gas sector in Nigeria. We want to create an investment climate that will be competitive. We know some other countries have this product; therefore we have to be competitive. We have to create an environment where the businesses make profit. This is a journey that involves everyone. We want both government – and that includes the legislature and executive – on the one hand and other relevant stakeholders in the sector, particularly the IOCs (International Oil Companies) to work together to ensure that this environment we are trying to create is an environment that will work for all of us”.
Though concrete steps are being taken in this regard, the senate president reiterated recently that “in fact, if not because of COVID-19, PIB would have been in the assembly by now because we thought that whether it is one or two bills before we pass the next budget for 2021, we should have passed the PIB. Passage of the PIB or the assent to it or having the law to regulate the oil industry in Nigeria is so important to us as a country and to our economy because that is what will attract and sustain investments, especially foreign investments. We thought we could pass it and it will help us shape the 2021 budget because there are a lot of expected funds in petroleum tax and so many others. The last time I discussed the PIB with the executive, they told me that probably this month of June, we are working together, it will be ready.
Electoral Reform
In the same vein, Ahmad Lawan is emphatic that “the Electoral Reforms Amendment Bill is a priority because of the urgent need to improve our electoral processes and secure the democratic gains that we have made in the Fourth Republic. We want to pass the Bill well ahead of the next electoral cycle in 2023 and avoid the political heat and pitfalls that imperiled the efforts of the eight National Assembly which passed the same bill close to the last general elections. We are not oblivious of the interest and concerns some of these bills have generated from the public. But, we must not forget that lawmaking is a rigorous process that allows for all sides of the argument to be heard and the true will of the people established before a bill becomes law. This Senate and indeed the ninth National Assembly will not pass any bill that is not in the national interest. Ours is and will remain a Senate that will always work for Nigerians”.
COVID-19
Literally, global economy and politics including governance have been grounded to a halt by the advent of the ravaging coronavirus. It has become a topical issue dominating domestic and foreign discourses. Immediately the pandemic broke out, the senate president could not wait for Nigeria to be attacked in the first place. Proactively, he sought for ways Nigerians could be shielded. He quickly hosted a meeting of the relevant stakeholders primarily to ascertain the level of preparedness of particularly the health sector. Rising from the consultation, he proceeded to inspect the infectious diseases isolation and treatment centre at the Abuja university teaching hospital. Visibly disturbed by the deplorable state of the facility due to poor funding, he secured the immediate release of over N600m that eventually strengthened the overall capacities of the centre. In addition to facilitating also the release of N5b to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and N10b to Lagos State, given her peculiarities, Lawan led the senate to make several crucial resolutions. The national assembly leadership religiously engaged the presidency including the critical ministries, agencies and organs all in a bid to ensure that lives and livelihoods are preserved.
NSIP Reform
All those legislative interventions quite instructively took place while the lockdown lasted. They indisputably accounted for the overall response and containment strategies of the federal government till date, and even led to discovery of a gap that is undermining the administration’s commitment to fighting poverty. Hence and towards addressing the shortcomings associated with the National Social Investments Programme relative to distribution of palliatives to poor and vulnerable, Lawan initiated the campaign for improvement in the scheme. He is canvassing that in view of public concerns, now “is time to reform the way and manner we implement the Social Investment Programme. This is a very important programme that is to help Nigerians who are poor and vulnerable. We believe that, having implemented this programme from 2016 to date, we should be reviewing to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency with which we have been implementing this programme”. Even though this move is being resisted by a few vested interests, it is hereby reemphasized that this is one area that has continued to undermine the integrity of the Muhammadu Buhari government as it affects his promise to lift many Nigerians out of poverty.
Just For The Love of The People
Instructively once again, the 9th senate equally reflects a parliament whose leadership is always ready and willing to make necessary sacrifices within the ambit of the law, to ensure that the interests of the people are served.
As an instance, during the screening of the ministerial nominees, the senate endured public vilifications for seamlessly confirming the ministerial and other executive nominees, including giving up a portion of its annual vacation period as well as even sitting at very late hours daily just to ensure that governance was kick-started smoothly in favour of the masses. Equally and to actualize change in fiscal calendar as well as timely passage of 2020 budget, the entire legislators overstretched themselves to ensure that every MDA was attended to even when some were tactically being evasive. Those and many others were part of the sacrifices made to improve the living standard of the people.
Also despite the rapid growth rate of risks inherent in the COVID-19, the senate did not shy away from making sacrifices for the overall welfare of the people. Whenever it mattered most, the leadership met to offer necessary interventions. At one time, the senate defied the lock-down order and reconvened solely to review certain executive proposals aimed at reviving the economy during-which it approved presidency’s request to borrow N850billion loan to finance projects in the 2020 budget and urged the executive to appropriate 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) as stimulus package for investment into key sectors. It also halted the controversial deployment of the telecommunications 5G technology pending thorough investigation and possible resolution of the suspected inherent health hazards.
The national assembly deployed accelerated actions on the executive bills on the N500b Intervention Fund for the coronavirus pandemic as well as the review of the 2020 budget. Even amidst speed, the commendable thoroughness accorded these legislations was unprecedented. Huge possible revenue leakages and in particular, a costly omission on N186b allocation to health sector were detected and addressed.
Change Of Approach, Moving Forward?
Interestingly, and on whether he would reconsider legislative-executive collaboration going forward, Lawan insists that “no arm of government can do it alone. For good governance, you need the legislature and the executive particularly to work together in a way and manner that there’s cooperation, there’s partnership, there’s consultation so that in most situations, they are on the same page. Tell me, who will be opposed to service delivery to the citizens? You cannot run away from the fact that when you simply fight and fight over what I may call territorial jurisdiction, if this is legislative and that is executive, to the neglect of the purpose of government in the first place, which is to secure the people, to provide for their welfare, then the people lose. I think I will be unfair to myself, to the people and to the senators who elected me to choose right from the beginning to just fight in the name of independence of the legislature. I believe in the independence of the legislature more than people think. If this relationship, in our judgement, is making us productive, is making us ensure that there is efficiency in governance, that Nigerians are getting a better deal, so be it”.
Conclusion
Even though the cumulative effects of those inherited perception crises, devastating economy, as well as poor public knowledge about the roles and workings of the legislature, instigated spontaneous public apathy and hostility towards the national assembly, shortly after inauguration; coupled with intermittent disruptions in national affairs, the 9th senate is on course and overtly focused. Its president, Ahmad Lawan demonstrates that separation of powers does not translate to separation of governments. He offers leadership that provides solutions, creates opportunities. Therefore the 9th senate by every standard of assessment is diligently taking the legislature back to the people through the highly-dynamic legislative agenda. So they deserve the support and cooperation of well-meaning public.
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