The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, at the weekend, said any serious politician in Nigeria should be concerned about meeting people’s expectations and not about 2019 elections.
Saraki had also confirmed that the political structure in Kwara State would continue as long as there was no serious opposition in the state.
He said that was why he was not bothered about preparing ahead for the 2019 elections in the state.
Saraki said this during a meeting with journalist in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, shortly after he had iftar (breakfast) with them.
“It will not be fair for us as members of the same party with the incumbent governor to be talking about who takes over from him when he still has two years to the end his tenure; coupled with the fact that we have a structure in place that has been successful. Also know that opposition doesn’t exist in the state, why the hurry?
“As serious politicians, we should focus on governance…until 2019 because any serious politician who is concerned about the people should not be talking about 2019 now, but about how to meet expectations of Nigerians,” he said.
Speaking on the journey so far the Senate President, Saraki said he was comfortable with the support he received from his colleagues.
“One thing that makes the 8th Senate different is that we take initiative. For example, a bill like the PIB would have been easier to pass as an executive bill; however, based on how united we are and focused on the greater good, the passage of the PIB goes to show Nigerians the competencies of the senators of the 8th National Assembly,” he said.
Saraki said the 8th Senate had scored many firsts since its inception and that it had fulfilled its mandate through the passage of several critical economic reform bills, opening of the National Assembly budget, and its investigations that had helped in the fight against corruption.
“We are a focused Senate. We are also a people-oriented Senate. We are a Senate of many firsts. If you look at the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, the opening of the National Assembly Budget, the passage of the Ports and Harbours Reform Bill and the Credit Bureau Scheme, you will see that we take governance very seriously.
“Over time, through our work like the TSA investigation, the NEITI Report investigation, and the North East Humanitarian Response investigation, we have shown that this is a Senate that does not sweep things under the carpet,” the Senate president said.
Saraki also said that he did not believe that granting local government areas autonomy could solve their problems, but promised to look into how state governments could take over primary education.
Source:daily trust
