SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has
given life to President Muhammadu Buhari’s submission that the issue of
restructuring rested with the National Assembly as the only legal institution
mandated to enact laws for the country.....
He said though the President had
powers, the constitution only empowered him as the head of the executive arm of
government to implement the laws made by the legislature. Dogara spoke when All
Progressives Congress, APC, Committee on True Restructuring, led by its
chairman and governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, met with the House
leadership on a courtesy call to intimate it on the details of their workings.
Dogara also told the committee that the House on resumption from its annual
recess recently, set up a committee to look into the matter. He, however, said
the House committee was far from having the trappings of any political party,
saying it would take bipartisan approach to resolve the issues. He said: “When
the President talked about the National Assembly being the proper forum for
this discussion, so many people objected to that. Some even suggested,
incredibly even some senior advocates who think that the President could just
sit and restructure the country. “But I know the President uses green pen, not
a red pen that I use. I don’t know whether by any stroke of imagination or
margin a green pen can actually restructure Nigeria. “If that is the case, it
is a very simple thing that can be done but unfortunately, most of the things
that we talked about, most of the issues that are being raised are there in the
foundational document of this country, the grund norm, which is the
Constitution.” Speaking earlier, Chairman of APC Committee, Governor el-Rufai
commended the National Assembly for the nomination of some lawmakers as
requested by the body to help realise its objectives. He stated that
restructuring was entrenched in the manifesto of APC, noting that some
structural and political imbalances existed in the federation. El-Rufai also
said that the committee, as earlier articulated by the party to be merely
technical, with its findings and recommendations reported back to APC for
implementation, was later expanded to accommodate the youths who he said were
the most important segment of the population. He revealed that already, steps
had been taken towards achieving the objectives of the committee, adding that
submissions had already been made to the state Houses of Assembly. He said: “We
are here as the APC committee on federalism to pay you a courtesy call and give
you a brief background on the assignment the party has entrusted on us. “The
APC in its manifesto made very firm commitment towards devolution of power true
federalism, which is variously referred to restructuring as so on. “However,
because of other challenges, the administration had to deal with on assumption
of office, the expeditious implementation of some of these commitment has not
occurred.” “I am proud to say that the National Assembly led by APC went ahead
with the constitutional amendment to make our federation be better balanced. We
all recognized there is some imbalance in our federation. This is why our party
is committed to do something about it. However, it is better late than never.
“We have already taken steps which are now before the State Houses of Assembly.
We believe in the history of Nigeria, there has never been a comprehensive
discussion on what is before us: federalism, restructuring and so on. We also
believe even the debate and discussions in previous national conference has
excluded key stakeholders particularly our young people that account for 80% of
our population. “We believe ultimately that as a democratic government, the
voice of the people is the voice of God and we must listen to them. We must not
presume just because we are elected, just because we are leaders that we know
what the country needs. “As articulated by our leader, President Muhammadu
Buhari whatever discussion we have about federalism, restructuring will have no
value unless the national assembly enacts whatever the people of Nigeria say
they want. So, this hallowed chambers give all the power to make federalism
work better. “The purpose of our committee is to merely collect and collate the
views of Nigerians particularly young people and other vulnerable people and
present to the party.”
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