Senator alleges blockage of opposition bills in N’Assembly
Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Babafemi Ojudu, has expressed dissatisfaction with alleged practice of blocking bills presented by members of the opposition parties in the National Assembly.
The lawmaker said this while speaking on the theme, ‘Legislating for good governance in Nigeria,’ during the Guest Lecture Series 2013 organised by the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, on Friday.
He said, “A strong opposition with a respectable and respected leadership will provide a bulwark against the leadership and the current Kabiyesi tendencies in the National Assembly. At present, the leadership of the National Assembly often abuses its position by blocking members of the opposition or some other legislators that they do not like from presenting their bills and motions for a debate.
“Consequently, members of the National Assembly are, to a large extent, at the mercy of the presiding officers of the two chambers. This practice must be reversed. We must cleanse the process by which bills are sent to the Rules and Business Committee of both chambers. The current practice engenders corruption, selectivity, and victimisation.”
Ojudu noted that the National Assembly had failed in performing some of its functions because it lacked understanding of the importance of opposition’s role in governance and lawmaking.
He said, “The absence of vibrant opposition in the National Assembly has not helped in ensuring that the National Assembly performs its critical functions of law-making and oversight very well. The senate is even worse. The opposition has been virtually absent in the senate. There seems to be a lack of understanding of the role of opposition in the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
“Currently many in the legislative oppositions are too concerned with membership of ‘juicy’ committees and are, therefore, too timid to express their truly-held opinion about the state of the nation and the action and activities of the executive and even the leadership of the legislature. Political parties too have not helped matters.”
culled from: PUNCH NEWSPAPERS
April 1, 2013 by Sodiq Oyeleke
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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