By Nathaniel Zaccheaus, Abuja
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Privatisation, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has thrown his weight behind calls for part-time legislature at both federal and state levels.
Kalu (APC–Abia North) said this would help the nation cut costs and enhance the citizenry’s trust in the polity.
The former Abia governor said this in an interview published on his verified Facebook page yesterday.
On calls for a part-time legislature, Senator Kalu said, “I think it will be a very good idea if my colleagues and other members of the Houses of Assembly will agree that we can sit for three months and do constitutional amendment first.”
He said, “We can sit four times a year and if there’s any emergency, there will be emergency sitting. We can come to do a presidential bid on that basis and go back instead of sitting on a full-time basis. Not only will the Senate and the House of Representatives, but all the legislative houses in Nigeria be part-time.”
Kalu maintained that this would be part of austerity measures to reduce the cost of governance, arguing that regional government is another viable alternative.
“If we’re going for regional government, it also means that the ministers, the legislators, will be the same. I’ve been tinkering with the idea of how we can save money to run Nigeria because the country needs money.
“I will encourage the President, the National Assembly to make this kind of laws. This will help him, and this will help the system, and this will help everybody,” he said.
The ex-governor explained that contrary to misconceptions among Nigerians, senators are not paid enough.
“I want Nigerians and my colleagues to do a quick constitutional amendment so we can go and be a part-time sitting Senate and part-time sitting House of Representatives and other 36 state houses of assembly in Nigeria.
“That will bring trust and bring relief to the Nigerian people,” the ex-governor said.
*Northern youths urge Ndume to help fight insurgency
Meanwhile, the Northern Ethnic Youth Assembly (NEYA) has urged Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume representing Borno South Senatorial District to help in addressing the ongoing issue of Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.
The group also pleaded with the former Senate Chief Whip to use his wealth of experience as an accomplished lawmaker to fight for good governance in the country.
NEYA in a statement on Sunday also pleaded with Ndume to collaborate with the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration which is making frantic efforts to fix the nation and make It function again.
The statement was signed by the Spokesperson for the group, Mallam Ibrahim Dan-Musa, and made available to journalists in Abuja yesterday.
NEYA said, “Senator Ndume should please work with the federal and the state governments in the North East to find a lasting solution to the insurgency.”
The youths also encouraged him to use his influence to bring peace to his constituency and the country in general as a distinguished senator of the Federal Republic.
In the meantime, the recent change of guards in the leadership cadre of the Senate with the elevation of Senator Tahir Monguno, to the position of the Chief Whip of the Senate, has been lauded by the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)
Former President of the NBA, Yakubu Maikyau, stated this after a meeting with the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, in Abuja, on Thursday, according to a statement by the Senate Page Media Office yesterday.
Maikyau said, “Our visit to the President of the Senate is to formally thank the Senate through you, for the elevation of Senator Muhammed Tahir Monguno, as Chief Whip. Mongonu, is a senior and illustrious member of the NBA and an active supporter of the Bar and the Legal Profession”.
“We are also here to thank the National Assembly under the leadership of the Senate President Akpabio, on the swift passage of the Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances Bill 2024 and to request, on behalf of judicial officers that the President of the Senate, directs the transmission of the Bill for the assent of Mr President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
