Thread by @MrAbuSidiq

PRESS STATEMENT

Lawan makes case for bi-cameral legislature in Nigeria

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Monday made a case for Nigeria to maintain a bi-cameral legislature consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives as presently constituted.

According to Lawan, the adoption of a bi-cameral legislature was intended to address the country’s diversity and ethnic composition to ensure justice, equity and fairness for all Nigerians irrespective of whether they are from minority or majority ethnic groups.

The Senate President gave his position on the bi-cameral legislature at the third University of Benin/National Institute for legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) Convocation ceremony, which held at the National Assembly, Abuja.

He added that having a uni-cameral legislature may create problems of non-representation and exclusion from governance for minority ethnic groups in the country, as well as inefficient representation for groups in the majority.

He said, “Nigeria has consciously adopted to have a bi-cameral National Assembly. It is because of who and what we are.

According to him, the non-remittance of revenues by agencies has severally left the Federal Government to explore the alternative of borrowing to fund part of the National budget.

“Today, Nigeria is challenged by availability of revenues. We can pass the budget in record time, but when it comes to implementation, that becomes subject to how much revenue we are able to realize.

“Majority of the revenue generating agencies don’t remit these revenues. They force the Nigerian government to resort to borrowing.

“The time has come for the National Assembly to continuously engage revenue generating agencies to know what their challenges are. Where they have targets, we must ensure they meet these targets. Where they don’t meet them, we should find out why,” Lawan said.

Ezrel Tabiowo

Special Assistant (Press)

to President of the Senate

Monday, October 28, 2019