We want to make Senate a transparent institution – Saraki

Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has said that the 8th Senate is committed to openness.

Saraki, who spoke while receiving the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Youth Forum (APYF) in his office as part of the celebration of this year’s International Youth Day, said the Senate had nothing to hide.

He said the e-parliament being planned by the Senate was meant to give voice to Nigerians, who will want to contribute to discussions on issues concerning the upper chamber of the legislature.
He told the APC youth body to disregard negative insinuations and speculations concerning the Senate as the lawmakers were committed to making a difference.

Saraki said: “I want to assure you, despite all what you read in the papers, be rest assured that we are here for serious business. We are all committed to make a difference and my doors are open. Very soon, from what I am being told from the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, we are trying to move fast about the e-parliament so that everybody here can know what we are doing and they can also contribute to some of the discussions.

“We want to make this place as open as possible. There is nothing here we are hiding. What is our great motivation? Nigerians spoke at the last elections and I don’t think they spoke for things to be the same and we must not let it be the same. We must ensure that it is positively different,” he said.

He added that the present administration is committed to carrying the youths along as against the use and dump syndrome of the past.
He said the report on the proposed legislative agenda which will soon be debated on the floor of the Senate is meant to identify priority bills that will give the needed support to the executive.

He said: “For example, the issue of rebuilding the Northeast. We believe there are no schools. There are no hospitals. There are no homes. That cannot come from normal budgetary allocation or appropriations. As a country, we must make a special case for the rebuilding of the Northeast and again, that is going to come from the support of the National Assembly and that is an area of focus for us,” he said.

The National President of the APYF, Ismaeel Ahmed in his remarks commended the Senate President for being youth-friendly and for his immense contributions to the success of the APC in the 2015 elections.

He added that now that the APC is the governing party, it was time to ensure good governance, which the nation lacked under the previous administration of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Ahmed said: “We have seen an incredible move by you to include a lot of young people and give them the ladder of opportunities for them to grow in the political atmosphere and we hope that in your current position, that will continue as well. We are also here as concerned members of the APC.

“It will be disingenuous for us to leave this place without telling you as a member of this good party, that you have contributed in no small way to the success of the party. Young people, as you are quite aware, played incredible role in bringing about the success from their activities on the mainstream and social media to make sure that the information that was coming from the other side do not overwhelm us.

“What we lacked in terms of resources and authoritarian manpower, we gained in the voice of a lot of young people that did not have the comfortability of either security or money or the wherewithal but we stood by and made sure that change happened in 2015. You are aware of that. You have helped us in so many respects in achieving that.

“Now, we are here, we have won the election, we have to win the country as well. Wining the country means governing it well, governing well means having a functional National Assembly and a very functional President. We have known your track records,” he said.