The legislator as a multi-tasking agent
As Senators got ready to resume last September from their annual vacation, President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, announced that for the remaining tenure of the legislative institution, the focus will be on the economy, economy and economy. It was a statement made in reaction to the declaration by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, that the national economy has gone into recession.
Since the Senate President made the promise, he and his colleagues have not relented in focussing on issues, legislations, oversight assignment and advocacy tasks that will help the economic recovery plan of the Buhari administration. From its wide consultations with private sector operators to the suggestion of a 21-point plan on restoring the economy, to the decision to prioritise the laws which can help jump-start the economy and the Buy Made in Nigeria campaign, the economy remains the main issue for the upper legislative chamber of the federal legislature.
Last week for instance was a busy one for Saraki in the line of pushing the economic agenda of the Senate. The first day of the week, a Sunday, witnessed the inauguration of the Skill-acquisition Training Entrepreneur Programme (STEP) in Ilorin in which the first batch of the 40, 000 youths who are to be trained in various vocations and equipped to set up their own businesses. The programme initiated as part of the empowerment programme of Senator Saraki was attended by Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed of Kwara State, Senators Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Phillip Aduda, Rafiu Ibrahim, Rt. Hon. Ali Ahmed, Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly, top government functionaries and political leaders in Kwara State.
The plan for the STEP programme is that instead of leaving able-bodied youths to be searching for non-existent white-collar jobs and out of frustration later resort to crime, the youths will be trained and made to acquire skills that can enable them start different small scale businesses which will enable them emerge as employers of labour. At the end of the training, the youths will be provided with start-up kits and location to commence operations. Efforts will also be made to ensure they are patronised by government agencies.
Addressing the beneficiaries and dignitaries at the occasion, one of the resource persons, ex-Minister of Youths and Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi said 34 million Nigerians are presently unemployed and 600,000 of them are in Kwara State. He noted that unemployment is a global problem and is in fact the underlining factor behind the loss of control of governance by the establishment in the Arab region (Arab spring), Britain (Brexit) and the victory of Donald Trump in the United States. He noted that while supply is more than demand, developments like the difference between the type of skill demanded by the market and what the universities are supplying and the changing nature of production as technology is taking over people’s job are also responsible for high level of joblessness.
Another resource person at the event, Dr. Murtala Awodun, called on other political leaders at different levels to emulate Saraki by encouraging youths to start businesses in agriculture, artisanship and in other sectors where the nation needs services and new products.
The Senate President said the STEP idea came as a result of his constant consultation with his constituents and the feeling that the excruciating poverty among the people can be reduced if many of the youths are empowered to contribute their quota to national development. He called on other leaders to come up with new ideas that can help to create employment for the youths.
He also advised legislature in the states to adopt the newly amended Public Procurement Act passed by the Senate with the intention to compel government Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) to patronise local manufacturers and service providers. By doing so, he said, a huge percentage of money spent yearly on procurement by state governments will go into the pockets of citizens and increase the gross domestic product.
For example, he advised Kwara State House of Assembly to see how it can compel schools in the state to adopt the locally made Aso Oke as material for making caps as part of the uniform for primary and secondary school pupils and students. It was a suggestion that elicited thunderous ovation from the crowd.
The following day after the launch of the STEP programme, that is November 14, Saraki attended a prayer session in honour of his late father, Second Republic Senate leader, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki in Ilorin and then quickly jetted out to Abuja to attend a meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and six governors representing each of the six geopolitical zones. It was a meeting focussed on nominations into boards of parastatals and the list of noncarrier ambassadorial nominees.
Same day in the night, the Senate President was ensconced in a meeting with other leaders of the Senate to set the agenda for the week. Among the issues agreed on was a meeting with the leadership of the House of Representatives the following day to ensure that both chambers are on the same page on issues like the Medium Term Economic Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Plan (FSP), the 2017 budget and the virement request by President Muhammadu Buhari.
By Tuesday, the Senate had to suspend its rule to discuss the threat of a strike action to be embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over complaints of non-fulfilment of a 2009 agreement with the Federal Government. The legislators then mandated Saraki to convene a meeting between the university teachers and relevant government agencies with a view to resolving the looming labour unrest on the campuses. It was an assignment that took the whole of the afternoon and the evening on November 16.
Also on Tuesday, the Senate discussed and frowned at a situation where new naira notes are openly hawked on the streets through a dirty arrangement between some unscrupulous officials of the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN) and commercial banks as well as the hawkers. The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele is to be invited by the Senate committee on banking to answer questions on how such an illegality is being condoned by the apex bank.
Thursday was more eventful for the Senate. It was a day they passed two bills - Air Force Institute of Technology Bill and National Poverty Alleviation Commission Bill into law. While the former bill was to ensure that the Air Force contributes to technological development in the nation and be in a position to be self reliant, the Poverty Alleviation Commission bill is aimed at putting the various institutions created to empower less-privileged Nigerians under one umbrella for proper co-ordination.
The Senate equally confirmed some nominees of the President whose names were submitted for screening. They included two Supreme Court Justices, members of the Governing Board of the National Communications Commission (NCC), national commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) and a representative of the oil producing companies on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Yet, Friday morning, Saraki flew out of Abuja very early in the morning to Lagos to address the alumni of the British Chevening Scholarship on the ‘Economic Prospects of Nigeria and the Role of of Alumni on Contributing to Economic Development’.
In all, it was a fully loaded week that tasked the skill of the legislator as a law maker, an advocate representing the interests of his immediate and larger constituencies as well as an institutional policeman empowered to exercise oversight responsibility on the executive.