Deji Elumoye
9th Assembly. As you can see, the logo, which embodies all parties represented in the House, will be displayed permanently behind the Speakers chair for all to see and as a constant reminder of what this Assembly is all about.
“Wemustremainonenationboundinfreedom, peace and unity. Our vision is very simple, and that is to use the legislative platform and the instrumentality of the law to make Nigeria a better and more perfect union.”
In his assessment of the 8th House, Hon Wole Oke representing Obokon/Oriade federal constituency in Osun State declared that the 8th assembly achieved so much but that the 9th assembly has to learn from the just concluded session.
According to him, “The greatest achievement of the 8th assembly is that it is focused, that operated on a planned series of activities. This parliament came with a legislative agenda, which was conceived and authored by Mr. Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara.
“He presented it to the entire house on the floor and so, we went through it, we researched it, we discussed it, we debated it and we adopted it. So, it became the Bible and Quran that guided the 8th assembly.
“We achieved so much. Let me start with the last leg. Look at the minimum wage amendment, look at the Electoral Act that we sponsored, look at the constitutional amendments that we made, look at age matter we are discussing about employment, look at the discrimination between HND/BSC holders that we are trying to eradicate, look at the review of the procurement act, which is before the executive but the executive is working with executive orders; so, we achieved so much.
“This is also a parliament that is very proactive. We take petitions from members of the public, we take petitions from every constituency; Mr. Speaker is aware of any development; he receives security report, when there is an issue in your constituency, he draws your attention to it.”
Oke therefore said: “We should position the right persons in the right places. We should put in place a competent person, who has capacity, who understands the rules, who understands the provisions of the constitution, who reads and comprehends what he or she is reading.”
The member representingArochukwu-Ohafia federal constituency, Hon. Uko Ndokwe Nkole also stated that the 8th assembly did “clearly very well in the aspects of bills and motion.”