Ehinnaya Abaribe, representing Abia South senatorial district, has said that the National Assembly is partly to blame for the current situation in the country by not attending to oversight that have been pointed out by the citizens.
In an exclusive interview with Chinenye Ugonna of Naij.com, Senator Abaribe (PDP) also described some ways in which the National Assembly will assist the country in transcending “from where we are”, in order to achieve progress.
Read the excerpts below:
Senator Ehinnaya Abaribe
Naij.com: Do you think Nigeria is where we are meant to be?
Abaribe: No, my sincere opinion is that we are very much behind where we are supposed to be. The reason we can also locate it as a failure as one of those who have been given positions of responsibilities in this country is somehow, what we have found has been a signal lowering of expected standards that we should have got to but we are not. When I say positions of responsibilities, I don’t mean only the presidents or ministers, etc., but all the way down the line to even local government chairmen.
At each point, citizens get more frustrated by the lack or progress that we see and I am saying this advisedly because I know there are so many things we should have taken for granted like portable water, access to basic healthcare and even good roads compared to what we have spent, what people spend elsewhere and what we now have. It’s a monumental shame that we find that basic things that people have overcome everywhere else, we still have to do those things.
Naij.com: What is the National Assembly doing to ensure the country progresses from its current state?
Abaribe: Firstly, the job of the National Assembly is to make good laws. Secondly, to provide oversight over the pending bills that the executives have to. Then, thirdly, to represent our constituency. But we will also say that the National Assembly also takes part of the blame for not attending oversight that people have pointed out. The National Assembly on its own has certain difficulties that it has to confront.
Naij.com: What are those difficulties?
Abaribe: The first difficulty is that Nigeria was brought up in the tradition of a military setup for 33 out of the 50 years we have now, we are basically an infant. It’s just been from 1999 till this moment that we will say that we have had unbroken period. Having had to learn within the period and the fact that the separation of powers is not being well implemented with regard to the relationship between the legislature and the executive, we still have to depend on the executive for certain differences.
READ ALSO: Senator Abaribe Defends Buhari On Marginalisation
Naij.com: Since 2007, what differences have you made since you came into the National Assembly?
Abaribe: When I came in in 2007, the National Assembly was an institution that was building a lot of traditions. We were also nurturing institutions to play their role. This was carried out by the time we came back in 2011 but under a PDP government. The difference we noticed is that under the APC government, the APC government seems not to have made up his mind what its relationship with the legislative arm will be. We are seeing an attempt to indirectly influence what happens in the National Assembly and of course a pushback in the leadership of the National Assembly.
The National Assembly has not settled down to do his own job and the executive on its own has not settled down as well to do their own jobs. We know we are going to really grab the inability to work on certain issues. We are going to bleed down the line. One example is the budget.
By the time the ministers settle down, then the National Assembly to defend a budget that we have brought will have some problems. Usually the budget envisages that you will bring to the National Assembly, a Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which is meant to be every three years. It takes the responsibility from the main things on ground and the basic fundamentals on which the budget will be built, how many barrels of oil to sell, what you expect to get from the port as opposed to the exchange rate and how it will be fixed for the year.
Now, when the MTEF is brought to the National Assembly to the executive for incorporation of the budget. Even the committees are not in place. The MTEF is meant to go to the Committee on Finance that will liaise with the finance minister before it comes back to us. All this things are not in place so I do not envisage overseeing a budget that will come before the end of the year. The minimum time that it will take to go through it is a minimum of three months. So we are looking at a situation that even if it is brought in November, and we finish it, it can’t be ready before February to March. So going into the new year, we are already behind our budget period which is supposed to be from January. So that gives a lot of difficulties for those who are going to implement the budget. Secondly, those who want to invest in the country need to know who they are going to. A quick resolution of all this difficulties is costing the country.
Naij.com: Please tell us the new reforms and policies that your constituencies should expect from you?
Abaribe: I don’t do constituencies because I am essentially a lawmaker. That is for an executive but what we do is to react to the policies brought by the executives to agree on and send back to them.
Naij.com: If the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) decides to slash a great pay cut in your salary, would you accept or ask for additional pay?
Naij.com: What is going to happen will depend on what is brought. One of the fallacies that have been going around with regard to renuuneration of the National Assembly members are the members of the public and those who criticise the names of the National Assembly without looking at the facts. The facts are simple and clear. Every senator earns what a Chief judge of the Federal High Court earns so the question of slashing, the RMAFC if they want to make recommendations will make it not only for senators but everyone in the country. So we will have to wait and see. If that will be the consensus of everybody, I don’t see the National Assembly being against it.
The post Senator Abaribe Says NASS Partially Responsible For Nigeria’s Crippling Situation appeared first on Nigeria News today & Breaking news | Read on NAIJ.COM.
Senator Abaribe Says NASS Partially Responsible For Nigeria’s Crippling Situation
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