Legislative arm is belief in processes. Sometimes the substance might be good but once you miss it, you derail. Just like the judiciary, if you miss the process it is out. The senators have shown a lot of maturity, patriotism and support. Nobody would even know that there is a slim majority. Without that support, that unity, majority of the issues we want to discuss especially those that border on reforms of this country cannot take place.
They think of Nigeria first. I am happy and honoured by the support they have given me. I am confident that as we move ahead we would build on our achievements. We would ensure that major issues that ordinarily should be discussed on party lines because of their controversial nature are looked at from nationalistic point of view.
We have been doing that. Look at the supplementary budget, under a normal circumstance, would not have passed if the senators wanted to go along party lines. But they rose beyond that, they saw themselves first as senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
If you see the work we have done in the last one year despite a lot of distraction, it shows that it is a Senate that has the roadmap. We are not just coming to the Senate to jump from one issue to another. We are focusing largely on the economy, how we can address things that would make Nigeria a better place, create jobs for our people, improve the economy and make the country investment friendly.
Looking at things we have tackled you can see a clear path that we have created.
This is different from what was in place before. Some of the issues that people were not ready to touch in the past, we have touched them. We are opening up the Senate to public participation. We are not afraid that anybody would come with criticism of our activities. Of course people should express their own mind.
We told ourselves, look, let’s open it up. We are ready to take whatever that comes with it if it will help make the country better. I don’t think the Senate has ever had this kind of openness that is in place now. To achieve this, you cannot do it alone as Senate president; it is because the senators wanted it and believe in that agenda.
If I don’t have the type of senators we have now to work with some of the things we are doing would not have been possible.
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