$1BN TO FIGHT INSURGENCY: Saraki insinuates that Buhari goofed

Senate President Bukola Saraki has decried the neglect of the lawmakers in the approval of $1billion for arms to fight Boko Haram terrorists and other criminal elements.

He said that in a good environment President Muhammadu Buhari should have discussed such an issue with the National Assembly.

Following the neglect of the lawmakers in making that decision he said that “already, some senators are angry” because they were not consulted by the executive before taking such a decision.

Saraki stated this when he spoke at a retreat “Strengthening Executive -Legislature Relations” put together by the Senate Press Corps and held in Jos, the Plateau State capital on Saturday.

“So long as the process for the passage of the budget is not based on participation, engagement and collaboration, much will not be realised. The Executive and the legislature are partners. We need each other: the constitution does not allow one arm to work alone, that is why there is checks and balance.

“There is no security architecture of this country that can work without a strong synergy between the executive and the legislature. When you see certain agencies, who by their actions and utterances frustrate the relationship between the two arms, you begin to wonder.

“What do we need to do? Do the police need more funding or more powers? Do they need new legislations to strengthen them. These are the issues where the executive and the legislature must work together.

“Just few days ago, there was the issue of providing funding for the purchase of security equipments. In a good environment, such an issue needed to have been discussed with lawmakers. Already, some senators are angry. They said they were not consulted by the executive before such a decision was taken. These are the issues we are talking about.

“I needed to be here to speak on these issues. It is not just about today. Posterity will be here to judge us that what I am saying is true. If we do not change the way we behave, we will remain like this for many years to come,” he said.

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Speaking further Saraki said that for democracy to be strengthened, the priority of everybody should be to strengthen the legislature.

He said, “If you do not defend the legislature, there is no way that our democracy will be strengthened because government is not built on individuals. It is built on institutions. That is why in developed countries, governments can change, but it does not affect the stability of their democracy because their institutions are strong.

“We decided to run a presidential system of government; by its nature of checks and balances, there are bound to be frictions. The question now is how healthy is that friction?”

 

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