Akpabio Has Brought Positive Shine On Senate – Initiatives

The forum of serving and former lawmakers known as The Faculty of Initiatives has cast a positive shine on the Senator Godswill Akpabio Senate saying the leadership has confidently steered the legislature in the right path despite systemic challenges.

Dean of Faculty, Hon Eseme Eyiboh who spoke at a press conference in Abuja also described as a storm in the tea cup the controversy over the tokens sent to senators as part of their holiday allowance.

In justifying the tokens sent to the Senators as they went on holiday, Eyiboh said the move was to augment their finances given that they had not been paid in two months.

Eyiboh flanked by some other members of the faculty said:

“Whatever is given to them, whether as salaries, allowances, or whatever it is, they deserved it. The worker deserves his wages. Some senatorial districts have as many as 18 local government areas. In a time like this, if you allow a Senator to go on holiday without the wherewithal, they will find things difficult.

“That token was the representation of a gesture. If you are entitled to your salary and it was not paid, you could be given a token. It is an intervention, it is to ameliorate suffering you would have otherwise suffered. The word ‘token’ is just an intervention. He didn’t say they had posted your salary.

“For a man who is kind and generous as he is, there is no just reason to attack him, there is nothing wrong with what he has said. His colleagues had already received the money. Let us be considerate because the senators had made a lot of sacrifices,” he said.

Eyiboh dismissed the insinuations in certain quarters that the Senate under Akpabio’s watch would be a “rubber stamp” for all policy decisions and actions of the executive arm of the government.

He said that contrary to that negative perception, the 10th Senate had shown that it would deliver on its mandate going by some of the decisions the lawmakers had taken in the last couple of weeks.

“When this particular leadership of the National Assembly emerged, there were rumours that the Senate would be a rubber stamp but the first indication of ethical integrity was when Mr President sent a request to the Senate for deployment of troops to Niger Republic.

“Many thought it was just going to be a mere formality but today, we are proud to note that that particular Senate did not only deprive, but contributed immensely by saying that all diplomatic measures be exhausted.

“The issue of troops deployment to the Niger Republic was subjected to constructive engagement by senators and the outcome was that the President should embrace diplomatic means to resolve the crisis in the country.

“Secondly, when the electricity companies and the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC wanted a 40 percent hike in electricity tariff, the Senate rose to the occasion and said Nigerians were already suffering and decided to ensure the stoppage of that increment. That intervention has gone so far in assisting Nigerians.

“Thirdly, this is a country with opportunities but which cannot come to fruition without the rule of law. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) because of the withdrawal of fuel subsidy went on strike for one day.

“The federal government was engaging them and it went to court to stop Labour and thereafter, when there was an increase from N540 to N617, Labour said no and rightly went on strike.

“The Nigerian Senate engaged labour constructively and it culminated in the NLC appreciating and understanding the situation that we found ourselves. On our part, we are saying that the NLC did very well in opening up the corridor for discussions and we also appreciate the Senate for its intervention.

“Still in the effort to establish the independence of the legislature and that it is not a rubber stamp, the President sent 48 ministerial nominees to the Senate and they were invited for screening.

“You would have naturally expected that the Senate would have returned the same number to the President but they sat even on non-legislative days like Friday, Saturday, and Monday and sat into the night, screening the nominees. Out of the 48, the Senate stepped down approval for three,” he said.

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