SENATE President Ahmad Lawan has said that Nigerians who have access to the media are blind to the good performances of the National Assembly.
Lawan said this on Friday in an address at the ongoing Conference of Presiding Officers of the Nigerian Legislature in Abuja.
“When it comes to giving the National Assembly or the legislature credits, those who have access to media are either too economical with their ratings, or even too blind to see very good performances by the National Assembly and the legislature across the country,” Lawan said.
He boasted that the 9th National Assembly had broken ‘many jinxes’ since its inception in 2019 and was aware of its responsibilities to uphold democracy in the country.
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Listing the feats achieved by the 9th National Assembly, Lawan said in 2019, the legislature passed the bill on the amendment of the Deep Offshore Production Sharing Contract Act.
He said Nigeria was earning only $216 million but due to the passage of the amendment of the Deep Offshore Production Sharing Contract Act, the country would henceforth earn $2 billion.
“Nigeria was earning only $216 million before the amendment but with that singular amendment, Nigeria would earn $2 billion and that is something that could have been done 20 years ago but each time it came to the National Assembly, something happened. It is only in this 9th National Assembly that we defeated the demon last year and we defeated them yesterday,” Lawan said.
The Senate President also said that most Nigerians are happy with the performance of their legislators.
He added that legislative institutions in Nigeria, including the National Assembly and the state houses of assembly, were the ones who maintain and sustain democracy in the country.
Lawan also said that Nigerian lawmakers were being misunderstood and misled by those with access to the media.
He said Nigerians were misled to assume that the N37 billion initially budgeted for the rehabilitation of the National Assembly complex which was later reduced to N9.2 billion was embezzled by lawmakers.
“This is one demonstration and testimony of misperception of the legislature. As I speak, this is still going through the procurement process.
“But you know what, when there was leakage, some of these critics and haters and traducers of the National Assembly said the National Assembly had spent the money,” Lawan said.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.