Organised labour has charged the members of the National Assembly (NASS) to minimising cost of governance and legislation in the country.
This is even as the labour reiterated its demands pointing out that members of the 10th Assembly should learn how to be satisfied with the allowances approved for them by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission as a demonstration of lending themselves to checks as well as minimising the cost of maintaining them.
The acting president, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Prince Adewale Adeyanju, who made the call, noted that the cost of governance in Nigeria when compared with other countries is too high.
Adeyanju, who is also the president general of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria(MWUN), noted that citizens are anxious to see the cost of maintaining the parliament and the executive pruned down to a level we can live with.
We urge you all to be guided not by primordial sentiments but by the oath of office you have taken, he said.
He reminded the 10th Assembly that Nigerians are watching and waiting for them to deliver and fulfill the aspirations of those who voted for them.
According to Adeyanju, the leadership of the two chambers should remember the task before them.
“Without demeaning the initiatives of the past Assemblies, there is a lot of work ahead. For instance, we need laws that will deepen and strengthen our democracy, especially in relation to elections, governance, accountability and citizen participation. Similarly, quite a number of our laws/statutes are in need of review. There are serious issues needing full and transparent investigation just as we have institutions and organistions in need of honest oversight,” he said.
Furthermore, he said, labour and generality of Nigerians have great expectations of the, coming out with laws that can tackle things that have not been working well, adding “while expecting great things of or from this Assembly, we however find it necessary to sound a note of warning, that the National Assembly is not an extension of the Executive. Its role of law-making, investigation and oversight has been defined and cut for it by the constitution.
“The loyalty of the National Assembly should be to the nation or those who elected the members and not to the party or the executive.”
Similarly Adeyanju expressed the displeasure of Nigerians who have been viewing the lawmakers as a set of people who are only interested in what they will gain from any bill.
“In the course of time, an impression has been created that the National Assembly is an Assembly of Deals neither in the interest of the people nor the nation but the members. We expect the 10th National Assembly to work assiduously to correct this impression,” he pointed out.
