By Tony Adibe
The entire National Assembly comprising the Senate and the House of Representatives feel quite concerned about the current hardship Nigerians are experiencing due to government policies and actions.
The Senator representing Anambra Central in the National Assembly, Senator Victor Umeh, who said this while briefing journalists shortly after the 5th Justice Anthony Nnaemezie Aniagolu held inside the Peter Mbah Auditorium at the Law Faculty, Godfrey Okoye University (GOUNI), Enugu, insisted that the legislature was always interested in working for any issue that would benefit the citizens.
He said: “So we are not doing anything that is blank. We are for Nigeria; we are for anything that will make Nigeria work. This is the bases of my engagements.”
While saying that Nigerians “are living in trying times”, Senator Umeh, however, argued that the current challenges being experienced in the country accumulated over the years, and not necessarily the “failing of the present administration and we in the legislature ”.
“I acknowledge that the problems we have today were accumulated over the years. They didn’t just start in one year. Is not the failing of the Present administration and us in the legislature.
“But I can tell you that we are all concerned about the state of affairs in Nigeria be it in the economic sector or any other sector. We need reform in all aspects of our national life. We need to change the way we do things.
“Those of us in the national assembly, we share quite seriously in these various concerns. If you followed our activities in the past few months, you see that the Senate and the national assembly in general; we are concerned about looking at the things that brought us (Nigerians) to this sorry path; what are we going to do to turn things around?
“So, we are not unmindful of the difficulties we are experiencing in Nigeria in all sectors of the judiciary and other sectors of the economy. And in the public service, there are too many things to put back in order. And that is what we are asking for; people should be patient; it’s not something for which anybody can give up hope.”
Senator Umeh also spoke on the controversial issue of the purported Ways and Means N30 Trillion said to have been borrowed from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by the former President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, which the Senate is currently investigating to find out how it was spent.
He said: “The issue of the Ways and Means that accumulated to N30 Trillion. I was one of the senators that demanded an investigation and the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio set up a committee to investigate the matter. I am a member of that committee.
“We have sat twice, and we are asking the relevant questions; we want to know how these monies were spent and for what purposes. This is the type of thing we do. I was very aggressive during the senate plenary session, demanding that an investigation be conducted, and we are doing the work now. We want to know how those monies were spent; we want to follow the monies to their final destinations. Is part of the problems we are having as a country; too much money being left in the hands of few people”.
The politician reiterated the determination of the National Assembly to work for the overall interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. “When we were inaugurated at the National Assembly, the Senate President told us that we should work for Nigeria; that everybody should drop his political party and work for Nigeria. Let’s look at the issues facing Nigeria, and that’s the way we are working now.”
He called on all Nigerians to collectively contribute their own quota to ensure the country works by doing the right things at the right time.
