•Says schoolchildren abduction is national priority
Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has charged members of the Red Chamber to place national interest above partisan considerations as they resumed plenary after the legislative recess.
He declared that Nigerians expected the National Assembly to respond to the country’s mounting security and economic challenges with courage, patriotism and purposeful legislation.
In a keynote address marking the resumption of Senate sittings, Akpabio said the legislature must rise to the expectations of Nigerians by enacting laws that would strengthen national security, stimulate economic growth, improve healthcare and education, create opportunities for young people and protect the vulnerable.
The Senate President also renewed the chamber’s commitment to supporting the nation’s security architecture, expressing concern over the continued abduction of schoolchildren in Ondo State and other Nigerians still being held captive by terrorists.
“It is with gratitude to Almighty God and abiding confidence in our nation that I warmly welcome you back from our legislative recess,” Akpabio said.
He described the resumption of plenary as “more than a constitutional ritual,” saying it represented “a renewed call to duty, when the voices of over 200 million Nigerians converge in this hallowed Chamber through those they elected to speak for them.”
According to him, although lawmakers had been away from Abuja during the recess, they remained actively engaged in national service by interacting with their constituents and responding whenever the country’s interests required parliamentary intervention.
He said, “Our recess was never an intermission from national service. Parliament may adjourn, but democracy never sleeps.
“We returned to our constituencies, listened to our people, participated in the democratic process, and witnessed once again the resilience of the Nigerian spirit and the enduring faith of our people in democracy. But while in our constituencies, Nigeria summoned us from recess, and we answered.
“Our response affirmed that patriotism is a sacred obligation we owe Nigeria. Great legislatures are not remembered because they met according to schedule; they are remembered because they rose above schedules whenever the nation demanded it. Patriotism chooses duty over personal convenience,” he said.
Reflecting on the political activities that took place during the recess, including party primaries and other democratic processes, Akpabio urged politicians and citizens alike to respect constitutional outcomes irrespective of electoral victories or disappointments.
“While we were in recess, democracy continued its patient work. Primary elections and other political processes unfolded across our nation. Naturally, some celebrated while others were disappointed. Such is the nature of democracy.
“Yet beyond every victory and defeat stood a greater triumph—the triumph of constitutional order. History teaches that nations rarely collapse because they hold elections, but because they refuse to respect them.
“Democracy endures when the nation is valued above victory and ambition bows to the Constitution,” he said.
The Senate President, however, noted that while democracy continued to flourish, the nation’s security challenges remained unresolved.
Senate Queries N943m Board Allowances, Faults Crisis at N’West Devt Commission
The Senate, yesterday, expressed serious concern over what it described as governance failures in the North West Development Commission (NWDC), querying the payment of about N943 million as board allowances and the prolonged delay in appointing executive directors to the intervention agency.
The upper chamber also questioned the commission’s financial management, internal disputes and slow implementation of projects.
He warned that the agency established to address insecurity, poverty and infrastructure deficits in the North-west must not be crippled by administrative lapses.
The concerns were raised at an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Regional Development with officials of the NWDC and the Federal Ministry of Regional Development.
Lawmakers were particularly disturbed by documents showing that out of N1.19 billion spent by the commission, N943 million was used for board allowances, representing about 79 per cent of the expenditure under the relevant subhead.
The committee also sought explanations for why the NWDC remained the only regional development commission operating without executive directors despite being among the first created by an Act of the National Assembly.
The Minister of State for Regional Development, Alhaji Uba Maigari Ahmadu, told the committee that the ministry had intervened in the lingering dispute over the commission’s office accommodation in Kano, which had fuelled friction between the governing board and management.
According to him, the commission initially operated from offices donated by private organisations before disagreements emerged over which facility should serve as its headquarters.
Ahmadu disclosed that the Kano State Government has now provided a fully furnished office complex, operational vehicles and a parcel of land for the commission.
