By Linus Aleke, Abuja
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has lamented the migration of Nigerian youths to other countries in search of better lives for themselves.
Giving his valedictory speech during a session to close the 9th House of Representatives on Wednesday, he regretted this was because many young people have lost faith entirely in the country.
He said the country was losing some of its best and brightest and should be addressed urgently.
“Honourable colleagues, despite the considerable investments we have made to improve our public infrastructure and the numerous reforms we have enacted to change how we administer the government, our country faces many significant challenges.
“These challenges have caused many of our fellow citizens to wonder if the promise of democracy will ever become real in their lives. Too many of our young people have lost faith entirely and are choosing in droves to seek their fortunes and their futures in other lands. We are losing some of our best and brightest, and if we don’t act now, the consequences of this loss will shortly become painfully evident.
“How do we ensure a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides opportunities for all who work hard to succeed through their labour and ingenuity? How do we protect our people from the marauders and insurgents, the petty criminals and assorted villains who wish to harm them, whether for profit or in service of other agendas?
“How do we restore faith in our young people so that so many of them no longer feel like the only way to achieve their best aspirations is to chase their fortunes in far away, often hostile lands? These are the critical questions all of us in government must answer or risk the unforgiving judgment of history.
“With each new day, we have an opportunity to make the hard choices and take the necessary actions to guarantee our nation’s future. With each new day, we have less time to act and a more outstanding obligation to act quickly,” he said.
He also regretted that despite doing very well, the House did not succeed in removing some of the constitutional barriers that have long stood in the way of women’s full and unhindered participation in the politics, governance, and economy of the nation
Gbajabiamila said as the 9th House of Representatives came to a close, it ensured that the cause of “the country will long endure and the dreams of our nation’s founding fathers will not die.”
He said even though the past four years had been challenging, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, the House had worked to ensure the country can overcome the challenges to achieve economic, social, and political transformations to the benefit of the Nigerian people.
The Speaker said the House has left its mark in every sector of the country’s national life and positively impacted people’s lives across the country.
Gbajabiamila pointed out that the 9th House introduced discipline into the appropriations process by implementing a January to December budget cycle that ended the policy instability and economic uncertainty of the previous irregular budget cycles.
He listed some of the achievements of the House including the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act, the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act, the Police Act, the Electoral Act, the Companies and Allied Matters Act, and the Nigeria Start-Up Act among others.
Gbajabiamila said through the constitutional review process, the House sought to restructure the “government to make it more effective, reorganise our politics to make it more inclusive, enshrine efficient mechanisms for holding the institutions of state to account and put an end to the debilitating conflicts that even now continue to tear our nation apart.
According to him, they made an audacious attempt to create a constitution that addresses once and for all the fundamental issues that distract from nation-building.
He said, “The constitutional amendments we enacted devolved power and responsibilities over critical areas of our national life to spur innovation and healthy competition at the subnational level. By our joint effort, we achieved financial independence for state houses of assembly and state judiciary, granting greater autonomy to these arms of government in line with democratic best practice.”
Gbajabiamila said beyond legislative interventions, the 9th House of Representatives will be remembered for its efforts to change how the business of Parliament was done.
Most notably, he said, they introduced information technology tools through the e-parliament project and established the National Assembly Library Trust Fund.
The Speaker also said the 9th House, with unwavering courage and determination, defended the rights and dignity of the Nigerian people abroad from every attempt to dehumanise and victimise the people.
Gbajabiamila said he was humbled by his appointment to serve as the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu and called for prayers and support to succeed in the new role.
