Ahmad Lawan, Senate President, has encouraged Nigerians to vote out any lawmaker in the current ninth National Assembly they feel has not served them better in 2023.
Lawan who spoke at a retreat for top management staff of the national assembly and National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) in Abuja on Friday, also urged citizens to as well vote in better people to enable the Nigerian system to function efficiently.
“I’m not here to defend the national assembly but I’m here to encourage the debate on what it means to us as country,” he said.
“If you don’t like the set of members in the ninth national assembly, change all of us in 2023. Get better people. Let’s support the system to function.”
The senate president stressed that the senate and the parliament at large is important to democratic system of government.
“Without the national assembly and the legislature across the country, what you have is not democracy anymore. So the value of the legislature and national assembly to Nigerians is democracy. If you take out the legislature, it might not be a dictatorship but certainly not a democracy,” he added.
“So when we always debate on jumbo pay and not the functions of the national assembly – what we are able to do and what we are not able to do.
“Ask for what you think we should be doing rather than saying close the senate or the national assembly. Do you understand the implications of if we close the senate? Not because I am in the senate.
“The senate is a leveller because in the house of representatives, population is major – that is why some states will have five, six members and others have up to 20. So if you say close the senate, there will be a day when people will cry foul.”
