Peter Okoye, PBA Journalism MenteeChairman of the Senate Public Account Committee, Mathew Urhoghide, has asserted that the 10th National Assembly will suffer from institutional memory loss.
The lawmaker who disclosed this to newsmen in Benin maintained that the 10th National Assembly will suffer what he described as “institutional memory loss” as many who have good experience and knowledge in lawmaking won’t return to the assembly, due to their being unable to win the just concluded election.
He also said that governors’ desire to control the president, the National Assembly, state assembly and local government is part of the problems facing Nigeria.
The lawmaker also responded to pressure to join the governorship race in 2024, saying his political future is in the hand of God. Noting that there is nothing wrong if he wants to join the Edo State governorship race in 2024.
“Let me say this, parliament all over the world is driven by knowledge, it is a repository of knowledge and you get better in the business of lawmaking and other legislative activities, the more you stay there. Whether in the parliamentary or presidential system. It is driven by the experience.
“That is why the number of times you come in there, ranks you. Whatever laws are made for good governance in the land are from the parliament, it is not cooked overnight. If you keep taking people out of the National Assembly and keep feeding in new people. What happens to institutional memory?
“Since I got to the Senate about 8 years ago, put it conservatively, I have been trained up to 20 times outside the shores of this country. What happens to the experience? Because the training I have received is not transferable. Today, as we speak less than 20 per cent of senators will come back to the Senate. It is a huge loss to this country,” he said.
He also accused state governors of being part of the problems in the country as they want to control the president, the National Assembly, the state assembly and the local government councils.
“The state governors are a major problem as they want to control the president, the National Assembly, the state houses of Assembly, and the local government areas. I believe they don’t understand their roles in democracy. If there are any parameters to judge what they have done in the states, very few governors will pass. The development of a state is multi-faceted.
“It is not just the number of roads you tar that determine whether you have done well or not. What about human capital development? What about the different sectors of our economic life and the lives of our people? The man for that you are building roads or bridges, how have you developed him, so that he can fend for himself and his family? You must develop the man in totality,” Urhoghide added.
He however, advised the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, to do his best to unite Nigerians because they “have never been as divided as they are today.”
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