The Speaker Niger State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Abdulmalik Sarkindaji has said that the country is going through its worst economic crisis in recent history as a nation, as Nigerians are experiencing real hard times.
The Speaker stated this when he addressed the members of the state 10th assembly at the legislative chamber in Minna on Tuesday after its eight weeks recess.
Rt. Hon. Sarkindaji told the lawmakers that as representatives of the people, they should be closer to their Constituency so as to feel pulse “because that is the only way we can address their challenges in other to improve their standard of living”.
He reminded the lawmakers that the eight weeks recess was a traditional legislative practice borne out of the necessity to create opportunity for them to take time out of their busy legislative business to interact with their Constituents to update them with happenings and development in government.
“We have taken the oath to serve the people. It will be a political suicide if we deliberately stay away from our responsibility to serve the people”.
He pointed out that the current economic hardship in the country is not peculiar to Niger State alone as every part of the country is going through similar economic hardship, he nonetheless insisted that the state is so blessed with God given resources to continue to depend totally on Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and international donors.
According to him “with all the resources God has blessed us with in Niger state, we should not in anyway be so poor and dependent almost totally on Federation Allocation and international donor agencies to survive”
While commending the executive arm of government for what he described as “unprecedented synergy” with the house of assembly in the struggle to re-engineer and overhaul the entire governmental process and architecture to usher in the “the new Niger”, he expressed optimism that the present administration will bring about radical transition in the state from economic dependency to economic self-sufficiency”.
He appealed to members that with the successful inauguration of various house committees, they should discharge their duties towards the state with all sense of urgency required in the present dispensation in other for the state to move out of the doldrums of economic irrelevance and dependency.
“The House Committees have been inaugurated and are set to exploit all legislative avenue to aid the realization of the New Niger vision of the present administration which involves the extensive utilization of all the competitive potentials of the state in agriculture and solid minerals”.
Sarkindaji reiterated that the legislative oversight function is not a witch-hunt exercise “but a legislative activities and instruments to help facilitate better governance through effective supervision of activities of MDAs so as to identify areas of lapses that needs to be enhanced or improved upon for a better society”.
To realize the renewed hope agenda of the government, the speaker reiterate the commitment of the assembly to partnering with the executive arm in other to restore security to troubled parts of the state, stressing that “insecurity will be surmounted in Niger state and the people will heave a sigh of relief and carry out their farming activities”.