Nigerian senate president, Bukola Saraki has revealed his plan for the 2019 presidential race. He went ahead to say that, Nigeria should improve the laws and law enforcement to ensure they reflect present world reality.
The former governor of Kwara state and a strong force in the ruling party, APC, added that the National Assembly will partner with different stakeholders to reform and review the laws of Nigeria in order to create a legal atmosphere.
In an exclusive interview with Chinenye Ugonna of Naij.com he shares explicitly his thoughts on the achievements of the country, challenges and further improvements to move the nation forward.
Read the excerpts below:
#NigeriaAt55: Bukola Saraki sends best wishes to the whole nation.
Saraki: In 55 years, a lot of developments have taken place in our country. This is a country that at the time of independence had only two universities, one television station and just about a thousand telephone lines. Today, we have about 100 universities, federal, state and privately owned. There should be about 40 television stations now. Over 60 million telephone lines now exist in the country and Nigeria was last year named the largest economy in Africa. Many of her citizens have led international organizations and the population has grown from just about 60 million to 170 million, making it the most populated country in Africa. We have some of the best and most solid financial institutions in Africa. Similarly, one of the greatest industrialists from Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is a Nigerian. He is also, according to Forbes rating, the richest African.
In addition to that, we have survived a civil war and experienced years of military rule. Today, the country is a democratic nation. We have pulled back each time we moved to the edge of the precipice. For all these, I believe we have experienced a lot of developments. However, with the available resources, both human and material, we could have been a world giant today. We got independence about the same time with Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. These Asian Tiger nations have taken the world by storm and are now leading global financial and investment capitals. They have excelled in manufacturing, service and financial sectors. Yet, they are not as endowed in terms of natural and human resources as we are. Let me say that we have realized our problems and we are attending to them. What this means is that the world should watch out for Nigeria, we are coming and we will still lead the world. I am sure, with sustained democracy and the envisaged pace of development, we will soon get there.
Corespondent: What do you think should be improved upon?
Saraki: I think we should improve on our laws and ensure that they reflect present world reality. Then law enforcement should be improved upon. Our electoral process should be reformed and we should have development plans that are enacted as laws, made compulsory for subsequent governments to implement. Then, we must abhor indiscipline, acts of impunity and disrespect for law and due process. We need to redefine our national values and ensure they are ingrained in all of us.
Corespondent: What is the National Assembly doing to see that we transcend from where we are at the moment?
Saraki: The National Assembly is partnering with different stakeholders to reform and review our laws, enact new laws and create a legal atmosphere that will assure all investors and the general populace that their interest are protected in case of any dispute. We also want to concentrate on exercising our oversight powers very often, efficiently and effectively. This will keep all MDAs on their toes and thereby improve on public service as well as service delivery to our people. As you well know, we were elected to deliver service and improved standard of living of the people.
Corespondent: What difference or differences have you made so far since you assumed power and what are the new reforms and policies we should be expecting from you, especially in the National Assembly?
Saraki: The first difference is to let everybody know that it won’t be business as usual. Legislative businesses will be carried out with serious engagement with the relevant stakeholders. After the intense consultations that we have had, we are now developing a legislative agenda which will be our compass for the next four years. The proposed agenda will soon be subjected to intense debate on the floor of the Senate. Again, for the first time, we have set up a finance committee to look at our finances and see how they can produce a process and procedure for creating transparent process around our finances. Our constituents and other interested parties should be able to access information on our finances. Their report will also lead to other issues concerning our budget.
Remember, this Senate is the first to set up a committee with such an assignment or brief. Same way we were the first to send fact-finding delegations to the North East zone, where the Boko Haram insurgency is ravaging our people. Since then, I have used all fora, national or international to canvass help, support and attention for the rehabilitation, rebuilding and restoration of the people and infrastructure of the North-east people. I was also the first Senate president to do an assessment tour of the huge National Assembly complex since 1992 with a view to seeing areas that require improvements and also to show camaraderie with members of staff and get to see them in their working environment.
We have definitely demonstrated that we want to work and we are ready to set targets for all committees to meet. Whichever committee fail to meet the target will necessitate a review of its membership. It is a serious legislative session in the eighth Senate.
Corespondent: If the RMFAC (Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission) slash comes out and the cut is great on the salary, would they accept it and would you push for additional pay?
Saraki: The present crop of senators are responsible individuals. We know that our country is facing serious economic challenges and that is why we are initiating measures that can help the executive in terms of plugging loopholes through which the nation loses revenue while also exploring other areas of generating more funds into the nation ‘s purse. We know this is a time that calls for sacrifice and we are ready to co-operate with the executive to genuinely salvage the situation. Remember the NASS budget was slashed from N150 billion to N120 billion, which is part of the sacrifices we are making in response to the state of the economy.
Corespondent: In 55 years, can you say that we have achieved a lot so far?
Saraki: Well, we have remained a united nation. We remain a force to be reckoned with in the international community. Over the years, our country has witnessed tremendous development in terms of her economy, infrastructure, military, politics, social services and other development indices through which you can measure achievements. The only problem now is that we could have done better, judging by our natural and human resources. This is a great country by all standards and we cannot be talking of just potentials every time. We need to talk of what we have done with the potentials.
Corespondent: Is it true you are interested in contesting for the presidency?
Saraki: I have said it on record that the talk of 2019 now when we are yet to deliver on the mandate we received just last May is stupid and ungodly. My focus and attention is on how to ensure that the eighth Senate under my leadership work with our colleagues in the House of Representatives to ensure that we partner with the executive arm to solve the problems of insecurity, unemployment, economic crisis and collapse of national infrastructure.
Corespondent: Can you do anything concerning job creation in the country?
Saraki: It is one of the focus areas for the present administration and our political party, the APC, campaigned with during the last elections. Therefore, for us in the Senate, we need to do all at our disposal to provide appropriate legislations that will help the economy to grow, generate employment opportunities, make foreign direct investors to prefer our country to others. That is why we are bent on reviewing all laws that relate to creating investments and ensuring that trade disputes are handled in line with world best practices. We want investors to look at our laws and say yes we are confident that our money is safe here. You know there are global conglomerates that are relocating from trouble areas in the Middle East and are looking towards Africa. We will draw them to Nigeria. We will initiate investor friendly legislations.
No comments:
Post a Comment