In a few weeks, the members-elect of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will convene to elect a Speaker who will preside over the tenth session of the House. By the grace of Allah, I intend to stand in that election for Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives.
I am offering myself for this position because, more than at any other time in our history, the choices we make now, the policies we prioritise and the concerns that determine our governing decisions will have serious long-term consequences either for good or for ill. The House of Representatives should be and will be the arena for many of those decisions. Therefore, we must have a leadership that recognises the importance of the moment and will rise to the occasion as it demands.
A nation’s journey is never complete. Each generation is responsible for taking up from their predecessors, correcting their mistakes and building on past gains. It also falls to each new generation to try to resolve the unsettled questions and atone for the original sins that stand in the way of progress. For us in Nigeria, the great unresolved question that continues to unsettle our republic, that stands in the way of us reaching for the stars, is this – what does it mean to be a Nigerian?
For the tenth National Assembly, beyond considerations of appropriations and bills, motions and resolutions, our highest obligation will be to provide the arena necessary for the impassioned yet civil debates and constructive engagements required to answer this fundamental question. The answer to this question is the missing piece that has eluded us for as long as this nation has existed.
This unanswered question continues to stand in the way of consensus on basic issues of nation-building, turning every disagreement into a conflict and every conflict into a war of attrition.
Even as we seek to answer the fundamental question of who we are and who we hope to be. We cannot lose sight of the real and present governance challenges that need to be addressed quickly, with intelligence and empathy. We have one of the world’s largest populations of young people, and there aren’t enough jobs available to pay them a good living and give them a sense of self-worth. Millions of our young people cannot conceive a future for themselves in the country of their birth, and they are rightly outraged. Those who can, are leaving. Others remain here, angry fodder for the fire next time.
What we need now in Nigeria is a wholesale, coordinated and sustained effort to change how we govern ourselves, a radical reassessment of how we allocate public resources and prioritise government interventions. We need to find the courage to make the difficult choices we have for too long deferred and prepare ourselves for the disruption of transformational change. Please make no mistake; transformational change is exactly what we need now. The incrementalist approach that has left us dealing with issues others have long ago solved, trailing our peers in every index, and competing with those who once looked up to us will no longer suffice. However, the simple truth remains that we cannot solve these problems unless we solve them together.
The tenth House of Representatives can be the engine room of innovation and transformative governance. It can be a legislature that reflects the best possibilities of our nationhood, a place where men and women who believe in the worthy cause of Nigeria can, with character and courage, wisdom and humility, confront our most significant national challenges. For that to happen, the House must first confront its failings and address its dysfunctions. We must manage the legislative calendar better to give room for constructive debate and deliberate consideration of critical policy issues. It is a waste of talent and a failure of imagination not to embrace the diversity of voices, perspectives, and experiences of members of the House of Representatives.
Not all governance challenges can be fixed by establishing a new agency or instituting a new, unenforceable ban. We must be willing to embrace complexity when making decisions about complex public policy issues. Legislators must recognise the limits of our abilities and consciously engage sectoral expertise to guide legislative decision-making and elevate the quality of legislative interventions and output. These proposals for internal reforms and recommended policy priorities for the 10th House of Representatives are articulated in the manifesto I will present to the public on the 6th of May, 2023.
Fellow Nigerians, I refuse to accept the cynical view that Nigeria’s best days are behind her. I reject the formulation of thought that all we can do now is superintend the managed decline of this great nation. We must not be bound to the idea that our problems are too big or that our diversity can only lead to conflict, strife, and stagnation. Our story can be that we built a nation from the sum of our parts. That out of many, we became one prosperous nation nourished by the varied cultures, histories, religions, and traditions of the diverse people who call this place home. All the possibilities exist within us to move this nation forward together. I am running for Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives because I believe in the possibilities of Nigeria. I ask you to believe with me.
God bless you, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
* Gagdi is a Member of the House of Representatives.
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