Members of the National Assembly from Ekiti State have been tasked on the delivery of more robust, quality and responsive representations to their constituents.
This came to fore during presentation of series of the citizens’ report on the performance of federal lawmakers representing Ekiti North Senatorial District in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
Presented by the Director, Justice Development and Peace Initiative (JDPI) of Catholic Diocese of Ekiti, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Akingbade, in conjunction with the state Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the report highlighted some activities of the lawmakers.
The affected lawmakers include Senator Cyril Fasuyi, representative of Ikole/Oye federal constituency 1, Hon Akintunde Rotimi, and his counterpart in Ido-Osi/Moba/Ilejeme federal constituency II, Hon Kolawole Akinlayo.
Akingbade who noted that the findings were results of the responses received from the citizens randomly interviewed across the constituencies, said the lawmakers were in office to advance the course of their constituents with quality legislative inputs and constituency engagements,
He stressed the need for the lawmakers, as representatives of the people, to be more accessible and available towards impacting on their constituencies positively.
While acknowledging various interventions of the three federal lawmakers in the area of empowerment and projects, the cleric called for regular follow up with contractors and agencies on the projects in the budgets for effective implementation.
He said, “The findings apparently show that the representatives whose performances have been examined need to work on the quality of their representations. The system of democracy which we practice in Nigeria is ‘Participation Through Representation’.
“This practice requires back-and-forth at all times between the representatives and the people they are representing; otherwise, the representatives might just be representing themselves and their cronies while they think that they are representing the people.”
JDPI recommended the need for the lawmakers to put a clearly defined methodology in place regarding how they connect with the people they represent in an inclusive manner through periodic citizens’ engagement it described as non-negotiable.
It also recommended “That nominated projects for a constituency must align with the needs of the people of the constituency is more than stating the obvious.
“The people need to be more concerned with the projects being nominated for their Senatorial District and Federal Constituencies now that a Senator is entitled to nominate constituency projects worth N2billion yearly for his/her Senatorial District, and a Member of the House of Representatives is entitled to nominate constituency projects worth N1billion yearly for his/her Federal Constituency.
“Our collective efforts can achieve responsive and responsible governance, electorate should continue to ask their representatives questions,” JDPI said.
In his remarks, the chairman of Ekiti State NUJ, Kayode Babatuyi reiterated the constitutional role of the media to hold leaders and representatives of the people accountable in the interest of the people.
He added that the partnership between the NUJ and the JPDI was aimed at calling the attention of the lawmakers to the areas that need improvement without attacking their personalities.
