How Ahmad Lawan Allows the Senate Work for National Development Through Proactive Public Relations

The basic responsibility of governments is provision of welfare and security of the citizenry while the legislature is to guide the other arms of government, particularly the executive, towards good governance and national development. And instructively, their successes or otherwise in performing these roles largely depend on the responsiveness of the leadership as well as the participation of the masses.

Again and for the purposes of this discourse, responsiveness which begets participation is a product of extensive research aimed at influencing public opinion in favour of an individual or organizations, but in this case, leadership. In other words, participation is achieved through planned and sustained exchange of full information, fuelled by constant research, between the public and concerned entities.

Hence, objective examination of the 9th Senate since inception few weeks ago, leaves no one in doubt as to its deliberate commitment to national interest and public expectations. The leadership is obviously conscious that good governance and national development are sequel to strong institutions driven by people’s acceptance, support and cooperation, implying that this senate understands the huge benefits of employing public relations strategies in discharging its functions.

This was demonstrated firstly by the manner of emergence of the leadership. Without prejudice whatsoever, the event of June 11th 2019 at the hallowed chamber of the Senate was quite reassuring and indicative of how national development and public expectations shall guide the actions of the 9th senate. To a very large extent, religious, ethnic and partisan sentiments were played down, suggesting clearly that Senator Ahmad Lawan was indeed the popular choice of not just his party, APC, but the generality of the Nigerian people through their elected representatives. He now has a pride of place among the league of those who came to

leadership on a popular mandate.

It can be said that beyond parading leadership and service credentials holding him up as eminently qualified for the office, there are other unique competencies and capabilities conferred on him which combine to truly distinguish him. Among others, he is today the highest ranking legislator of over two decades standing and has been in the two chambers of the National Assembly with track records of legislative performance. Also interestingly, he was part of the immediate past leadership of the senate, which no doubt bestows on him the capacity to build upon the foundations of commitment to democratic values, accountability and probity laid by the previous Assembly.

As such and typical of a man adequately prepared for the task ahead, he proved instantly that he is equipped with the right mix of proactive leadership mentality and broad mindset for patriotic service. In his acceptance speech, he announced that “today, as we commence the 3rd uninterrupted decade of our National Parliament, we pledge to remake, reform and revitalize the Senate in line with our constitutional duties, the urgent expectation of our citizens and global parliamentary best practices…….. Our legislative agenda must focus on enacting laws and strengthening existing laws to facilitate the reforms required to truly take our nation, our people and our economy to the next level. Within us as a Senate, our leadership will commit to partnership rather than partisanship and between us and the executive arm of Government, we will choose unity of purpose over conflict and discord while also working towards further strengthening and guaranteeing our independence and that of the judiciary. We will sustain and strengthen our institutional working relationship with critical stakeholders especially the Civil Society Organizations, the Media and Development Partners within and outside Nigeria.”

There is no better way to provide leadership and express willingness to turn this around!

Meanwhile, he had published his blueprint christened “A Legislature That Works For Nigerians,” projected to: “Reposition the Senate to carry out its constitutional duties of legislation, oversight and representation in an open and transparent manner; strengthen the internal operations and processes of the committees of the Senate towards efficient service delivery; take legislative action to improve national economic conditions including public finance management and national security architecture and to reduce poverty, unemployment and infrastructure deficits; Propose and implement a national planning and annual budget process that fosters collaboration between the executive and legislative arms of government; Continue with legislative action to bring to closure all outstanding legislation including the electoral act and constitution amendments bills; Deploy the use of information and communications technology in the conduct of the administrative business, Provide effective public engagement and collaboration with communities and ensure effective communication with Civil Society Organizations and constituents.”

And in apparent admission of the hostilities the National Assembly has over the years suffered in the hands of the public particularly as a result of the secrecy built around the emoluments of the legislators, the Senate President had stated that “to effectively address the crisis of confidence between the Senate and the general public, the 9th Senate shall adopt a transparent and accountable system that offers full disclosure of its budget in terms of personnel costs, operational expenses and other expenditure.”

Then in appreciation to the communication breakdown that manifested as very low level of public participation which left the conscious constituents frustrated in relation to the number of unasked and unanswered questions, the 9th Senate is poised to make “a conscious effort to build sustained public engagement. This could be done, for example, by increasing the community engagement component of constituency project nomination events. Further, an annual report titled, “Senate That Works for the People will be published.” There will be a concerted effort to reach out to civil society and Non-Governmental organisations to engage them in advocacy and legislative work.”

And of course as a socially-responsible leadership, Senator Lawan declared that “the 9th Senate shall focus on legislative intervention as a matter of urgency, to effect a change of course in Security, Economy, Criminal Legislation Reform, Public Finance Management Legislations, Anti-Corruption, Youth Unemployment and Substance Abuse, improve Standard of Education, Healthcare Services and other fundamental needs of Nigerians……….. I commit to giving life to my vision of a united, productive and people centred 9th Senate that is dedicated to the Nigerian people…. The Senate, under my leadership, will jealously guard its independence while diligently playing its part in ensuring that the task of national development moves forward with urgency.”

And by way of stressing the empathetic posture of the 9th Senate primarily with a view to changing the narratives through transparency and people-oriented actions, Lawan further stated that “in the laws we enact, in the oversight and representations we undertake, the wellbeing of the Nigerian people will always be our priority. While putting the foregoing into effect, we shall use all available channels to ensure a regular flow of information to the general public and encourage feedback and dialogue so that we remain responsive to the Nigerian people that we were elected to serve. I am confident that, in no time, we shall transform the public perception of the Senate positively.”