As the 9th National Assembly drifts to its end in about a month’s time, the leadership has come out to rate the performance.
This is as the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, have both come out to commend the 9th assembly for its outstanding performance.
According to them, the 9th assembly had broken many ‘jinxes’ and done many ‘firsts’ by overcoming traditional obstacles through consensus building and clever political brinksmanship.
Both leaders of the assembly made the position known in Abuja during a welcome dinner organized by the National Assembly management and the National Institute for Democratic and Legislative Studies (NILDS) for Senators and Members-elect for the 10th National Assembly.
The Senate President in his remark said good governance had driven the performance of the 9th National Assembly, while noting the harmonious working relationship it had with the executive arm of government.
Lawan said, as of July 2022, a total of 874 bills had been introduced at the stage of the first reading, out of which 162 had passed the third reading, and 104 were concurred to by the House of Representatives and assented by the President.
He explained that the record of its performance is far better than that of its predecessors since 1999.
He submitted that “We were equally aware that a good working relationship is desirable and indeed imperative to achieve effective and efficient service delivery to the people.
This approach to engaging with the executive has led to a misperception and misunderstanding, which has led many to tag the 9th National Assembly as a ‘rubber stamp’ Assembly.”
On his part, the Speaker of the House asserted that Nigerians who labelled the 9th National Assembly as a rubber stamp got it wrong because the legislature was not set up to confront the executive but complement it for good governance.
Gbajabiamila added that “Too many Nigerians are beginning to wonder if democracy is the right choice of governance, and for democracy to meet the legitimate expectations of the people, relevant institutions of government must be made to function well.”
He then appealed to the lawmakers-elect for the 10th National Assembly to consolidate the achievements of the 9th one in making democratic governance more beneficial to Nigeria and Nigerians.
