Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu State Governor |
Chief
Ugwuanyi reprimanded the national assembly members while delivering a paper entitled
‘Legislation as an instrument for social
justice in a growing democracy’ at the 55th Founders’ Day Lecture of the
University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
While
emphasizing on what he described as “key pitfalls in the present system of
governance,” Chief Ugwuanyi explained that it was unfortunate that federal
lawmakers were not accessible to their constituents, who they are supposed to
be representing, noting that it was unfortunate that the National Assembly had
not been effective in sustaining democracy.
In
his own words: “There is an
unfortunate pervasive perception that the National Assembly has not generally
functioned as an instrument for sustaining democracy. In this direction it is
opined that the members are inaccessible and hardly operate as representatives,
in form of dearth of formal contacts between them and their constituents. The
constituency offices that ought to provide a rallying point are hardly
functional across Nigeria, making it difficult for the constituents to reach
their representatives.”
The
governor is the immediate past Chairman of House of Representative Committee on
Marine Transport also identified the high turnover of legislators, and what he
described as the decline in the public image of the lawmakers, as challenges
which undermine the effectiveness of the National Assembly, adding that there
was a need to address the lack of transparency and accountability in the
operations of the National Assembly.
Gburugburu,
as the governor is popularly known as, said: “Beyond capacity issues, which hobble the effectiveness and
efficiency of work in the National Assembly, two critical areas of concern
which appear to have consequences on the ability of the National Assembly
members to act as harbingers of democratic change are the rising attrition in
the number of returning members which currently stands at about 30 per cent in
the past twelve years, and the downward spiral in members’ image.
“Again,
there is still the nagging question on lack of transparency and accountability
in the operations of the National Assembly. The dominant view is that there is
an urgent need for the assembly to open up its legislative process and
financial transactions, particularly the salaries and allowances of members to
the scrutiny and input of the public. This will go a long way in correcting the
pervading and largely false impression that the assembly is a compromised institution
whose membership earn so much and do so little.”
The
governor noted that the country’s socio-economic indices had remained grim despite
reported economic growth, adding that there were concerns within government
circles over the development.
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