Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in Benue State, Mr. Hingah Biem, has called on the National Assembly to make the interest and well-being of Nigerians a priority if they must gain the confidence of the people.
Also, a former Police Commissioner in Lagos State, Abubakar Tsav called for collaboration between executive and the legislature for the development of the country.
The former governorship candidate, who made the call in an interaction with the Next Edition, commended the 9th Assembly for their maturity in electing their preferred leadership at both red and green chambers saying their conduct was an indication that they had the capacity to build and consolidate on their past achievements.
Mr. Biem, urged them to put aside all those tendencies that would portray them as working for their personal interests and put the interest of Nigerians first.
“First and foremost, I commend the bi- partisan conduct of the National Assembly members in the choice of their leaders. Their exhibition of maturity shows that they have the capacity to build and consolidate on the achievements of the past.
“But more importantly, it is hoped that they will put aside those tendencies that portray them as working for their personal interests rather than that of the Nigerian nation and put the interest of Nigerians first in all their undertakings.
“We also expect greater collaboration between the legislature and the executive especially now that the executive arm of government appears to be at home with the leadership of the National Assembly.
Speaking on Benue Assembly, Mr. Biem said, “we had a House of Assembly that was sharply divided along partisan lines and were more or less doing the bidding of the Executive, including the exclusion of their colleagues from performing their legislative duties.
“It is our prayer that we will have a vibrant legislature that will be united in providing the dividends of democracy to our people and stand up against anything that will militate against the development of the state.
“We want a legislature that will ask what is happening to the resources accruing to the state. Why are workers and pensioners not being paid and why we are not seeing the maintenance and development of physical infrastructure.”
He advised Nigerians to pray for the leaders and to also “insist that they do things that will satisfy our corporate needs rather than their personal and transient desires,” adding; “The States and National Assemblies need to collaborate with the executive to put in place measures and create conditions that will ensure the protection of lives and property so that Nigerians can pursue their legitimate activities.”
On his part, Tsav noted that the Principal Officers of the 9th Assembly were all APC members and loyalists of Mr. President.
“I think it’s a good omen for advancement and development of the country. We now expect mutual cooperation between the Executive and the Legislature to move the country forward to the next level.
“We expect that there will be no excuses for poor performance especially delay in passing of bills submitted by the President and delaying of Budgets.
“The working relationship between the two arms of governments will be cordial and thus advantageous to the development of the country and well-being of the people of this country at large,” he said.
