From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
National Political Movement of Ohaneze Ndigbo Youth will, at the end of this month, honour the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, in recognition of his sterling qualities in the sustainance of Nigeria democracy.
Chairman of the Ohaneze youth group, Onwe Christian Goodluck, who made the disclosure at a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, announced that Imo Governor Hope Uzodinma, his Kogi counterpart, Yahaya bello and the senator representing Adamawa North, Elisha Abbo are among the dignitaries expected.
“It is my humble honour and privilege to inform you on the arrangements of National Political Movement of Ohaneze Ndigbo Youth to honour the President of the Senate, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan. This is in recognition of his sterling qualities in the sustainance of our democracy,”
Defending the decision to honour the Senate President, the Ohaneze Youth said: “We are motivated to choose Senator Lawan who is representing Yobe North, for the prestigious award because of his track records at the Senate in his first term as Senate President, coupled with the number of infrastructural projects, bills and motions he had facilitated and initiated for his constituency.”
“The 9th Assembly under Lawan has witnessed “rancor free sessions, peaceful coexistence, unity and development that has benefited Nigerians. This no doubt remains one of the biggest achievements of the 9th Senate and the entire National Assembly in 2019. Delays in passage of national budget had been a major failure for previous assemblies as it usually takes not less than three or four months to pass it.
“This was not different in the 8th Senate. In 2016, President Buhari presented the budget on December 22, but it was not passed until March 23, 2017. The 2018 budget was presented on December 14, 2017, and passed on March 11 of the next year. The 2019 budget was passed on April 30 after it was first presented to the National Assembly in December 19, 2018.
“The National Assembly had blamed delayed budget passage on late presentation, failure of MDAs to appear before committees, oversight functions, among others. But this time, the 2020 budget was presented on October 8 and passed on December 8.
“This time also, all MDAs were present to defend their budgets – this is not unrelated to the president’s instruction asking representatives of MDAs to remain in the country until after their budget defence.
“Additionally, the 9th Senate relationship with the executive arm has led to ‘Prompt’ attention to crucial bills, as well as speedy passage of bills that are deemed important.
“Some of these bills are the Appropriation Bill, which was passed within two months, the Finance Bill, which was quickly attended to even though lawmakers did not have copies of the bill at the stage of second reading; the Deep Offshore and the Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act and the Public Procurement Act. The new Electoral Act 2022 is also an achievement we should be proud of as it has peacefully enabled a successful polls in the Country,” the group claimed.