Democracy Day: Senate committed to democracy gains

The Senate on Wednesday said the National Assembly remained resolutely committed to pursing legislative actions that would guarantee the gains of democracy to the people.
The resolution was the outcome of the senate’s felicitation on Nigeria’s 15th Democracy Anniversary contained in a motion brought by Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba and supported by all the senators.
“The National Assembly, is determined to enact legislations that would facilitate the Transformation Agenda to deliver on the bountiful dividends of democracy to her citizens.
“The National Assembly also remains single minded in its pursuit enduring peace and security in all parts of the country,” he said.
Deputy Senate Leader, Sen. Abdul Ningi said although Nigeria’s democracy had made appreciable progress, attention must be focused on how to address national problems.
He identified the problem of disunity among the citizenry, godfatherism, and non-implementation of budgets as some of the major issues holding down Nigeria’s progress.
“The problem of godfatherism should be addressed so that people are elected based on their performance and character,” he stressed.
Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu called for entrenchment of the principle of rule of law in every level of government to check the rising impunity.
“For a country to make progress, we must have fear of God and of the law. The rule of law should guide all our dealings and activities in our private and public life.
“We should set up industries as is done in other places like China, to create jobs for our populace because the public sector cannot provide jobs to the teeming populace,” he advised.
In his contribution, Sen. Ahmed Lawal (APC-Yobe) stressed the need to revamp the nation’s economy.
“We need to re-work the economy to make it work for Nigerians. Nigerians are not living better lives to reflect our status as the largest economy in Africa.
Sen. Ayogu Eze (PDP-Enugu) urged Nigerians to desist from projecting the image of the leadership in bad light because this impacts negatively on the nation’s external image.
“We should have pride and faith in what belongs to us and in what we are doing. We have to keep faith in what our leaders are doing to move the country forward without denigrating them before the outside world,”Eze admonished.
Senate President, David Mark noted that besides the development of infrastructure, the greatest gain of the nation’s democracy was the freedom of expression for all.
“Today, all of us here can get up and criticise the government. Under this democracy, we can discuss our problems and if we can identify and discuss the problem half of the problem is solved.
The senate also paid tribute to all patriots who are pillars of Nigeria’s collective Democratic journey and the armed forces for their steadfast subordination to civil authority.