Presidential Aide Appeals to National Assembly to Reconvene

The Senior Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, on Sunday appealed to the National Assembly to reconvene in order to expeditiously consider several urgent matters pending before it.

He warned that the lawmakers’ holiday, which began on July 24 and to end on September 5, might stall the allocation of funds to critical sectors of governance and the economy.

Enang stated that the holiday by the lawmakers was unnecessary as there are pending matters that require urgent national attention.

Some of the pending issues, according to him, included the approval of a supplementary budget to fund the 2018 budget and the 2019 general election.

The supplementary funds would enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to commence preparations for the 2019 polls.

Also pending are several key appointments for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Deputy Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Code of Conduct Bureau, among others.

Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, announced the adjournment at plenary following a motion on the alleged siege on his home and that of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, by security operatives.

Enang also appealed to party leaders and various caucuses in the National Assembly to prevail on their leadership to reconvene to treat pending pressing issues which need urgent attention.

He said if the National Assembly is not reconvened immediately, it might adversely affect the country.

The presidential aide added that though the lawmakers are entitled to holiday and vacation, even their rules permit them to reconvene where they are urgent and pressing national issues to deal with.

The presidential liaison officer contended that the issue of defections of some lawmakers from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is political matter that should not affect national issue.

He also said the defections do not affect the credibility and performance of the APC-led federal government.

Enang said: “In fairness to the National Assembly, they scheduled to consider these matters on July 24, 25 and 26 but certain unforeseen events happened that they had to adjourn. Therefore, they did not deliberately keep these matters and went away.

“The matters include virements, settlement of appointments, supplementary budget, borrowing plan, INEC fund and so on.

“I want to say that we are appealing to the National Assembly, and that we accept that it was not intended by them that the country should suffer. They had made plans to approve this before the exigency that made them to adjourn, but I want to appeal to them, that they should please consider reconvening for the purpose of considering these urgent matters which are capable of making the government not to perform and deliver on time.”

Enang noted that if the supplementary budget is not attended to and passed, “the money that is intended to enable INEC to prepare for the 2019 election will not be released and the virement that is supposed to enable funds to be available to other sectors of the economy will not be available and, so, budget cannot really start performing.

“We are appealing to Senate leadership and all caucuses of the National Assembly to see this as a clarion call for the good of the country.

“As the Liaison Officer between the National Assembly and the federal government, I know it is not the intention of the lawmakers to make Nigerians suffer.

“We are not compelling them, we are appealing to them. As a liaison officer, my duty is to make sure that both arms stay together and work in harmony.”

On the defections in the assembly, Enang explained that it has nothing to do with the performance of President Buhari and that the issues for defection were personal and domestic to the political actors.

He stated that the defections are not a sign that the APC is divided.

He said: “There is no division in the APC that is known to law and there is no division along the line.

 “Defections are not a sign of anything to worry about in a political party. None of the defectors is complaining about executive treatment of their people, but about winning nominations for tickets outside.”