Senate President, Bukola Saraki has urged his colleagues in the Senate to buckle up and get ready to work together with the executive in order to restore citizens’ confidence in the government and revive the economy.
He said this during his opening speech at the resumption of plenary after the senators had embarked on a two-month break.
Saraki said that during the holiday, he held series of interactions with members of his constituents where he learnt firsthand of the sufferings and hardship facing the people.
He said: “During this year’s Sallah as it is my tradition, I had close interaction with a cross section of my people in Kwara Central, including the aged, youths, market women, and leaders of thought.
“I believe many of you did the same. I recall unforgettably, how one of the women came straight to me with a look of utter desperation and all she could mutter out was, ‘please our senator, do what you can to put an end to this suffering; it is becoming unbearable’.
“I don’t know what your experience was, but if your experience mirrored mine, then the challenge before us could not have been made clearer.”
The senate president told his colleagues that the situation demands that “we must do something drastic and quick to restore confidence back into the economy and get people investing.”
Saraki noted that Nigerians are not concerned about who is responsible for the present economic hardship, rather people want to know how to end it.
“During my interaction … I remember trying to explain to my people that this kind of thing does not happen overnight; that the seeds for the condition that we suffer from today must have been planted by past administrations that refused to do what was necessary.
“However, I soon realised that my people are not so interested in how we got here or who to blame for our current situation.
“They only wanted to know that government has plans to get them out of this current predicament.
“To them, the only explanation that makes sense at the moment is that which puts food on the table, reduces price of rice, garri, salt, sugar, meat and saves jobs,” Saraki said.
He urged leaders in the country, including the legislators, to be visionary as the Nigerian citizenry is in dire need of “leadership with a clear vision, leadership whose daily actions reflects the very urgency of the people’s condition.”
“Therefore, our response to the current challenge must be dictated by the urgency of the hardship that the people suffer on a daily basis,” Saraki urged.