Senate President, Ahmed Lawan has debunked the public perception of the 9th National Assembly as a rubber stamp of the executive.
Lawan said this at the Distinguished Parliamentarians Lecture in Abuja on Monday.
He spoke at a lecture he tagged, “The Legislature, Legislative Mandate and The People- The Reality and The Public Perception,” organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS).
According to him, Nigeria has three arms of government that are constitutionally equal but the people are heavily represented at the legislature than in the other arms.
He said that for the peace and development of the nation, the three arms of government must work together as the failure and success of one arm of government will be attributed to all.
According to him, the legislature, being the first arm of government constitutionally, the closest and as well the most accessible by the people, easily lends itself to public scrutiny and sometimes take the blame even for government decisions that fall outside its legislative competence.
He explained that the three arms of government have a responsibility to each other and an obligation to Nigerians, thus must have a cordial relationship based on mutual respect for constitutional rights and mandate to succeed.
He emphasised that the cooperation of the 9th Assembly with the executive have improve efficiency in law making; as at November 2021, about 2,500 Bills have been introduced; 769 in the Senate and 1,634 in the House of Representatives.
Number of Acts gazetted increased as compared with different regimes since 1999; Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2006) 82 Acts; Umar Musa Yar’Adua (2007-2009) 38 Acts; Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (2010-2015) 40 Acts and Muhammdu Buhari(2015-date) 84 Acts.
He concluded by promising that the 9th Assembly would continue to improve public perception on the legislature, stating that they’re not a “rubber stamp” Assembly but they only provide a safe atmosphere for national development through cooperative and collaborative efforts with the executive.
