Senate President, Ahmed Lawan has warned that much he believes in cooperation with other arms of government in the principle of separation powers, the Senate will not compromise its position.
He said: “the legislature will always on its own, ensure we oversight and we check possible excesses of the executive arm of government.”
He said that the legislators believed that separation of powers means that there should be cooperation, consultation, coordination and partnership for the benefits of the people of this country but that “this is not in anyway to compromise the different functions that we are tasked and scheduled to discharge.”
The Senate President who spoke to newsmen today, August 31 at the presidential villa, Abuja said that the consultative forum which President Muhammadu Buhari just inaugurated was for governance to be enhanced.
“The legislature, the executive arm of government and of course the party in power, have seen the need to bring everybody on board so that we are able to consult widely before major issues are table before the citizens of this country. “Specifically, what we intend to achieve is to improve the quality of governance and service delivery to Nigerians. We have promised Nigerians and Nigerians voted for the All Progressives Congress at all the levels, so it is incumbent upon us at all levels and as a party to ensure we meet the expectations and aspirations of Nigerians.”
Senator Ahmed Lawan said that the direction, manifesto, programmes and projects of the APC, being the platform of major players in government, have to be followed strictly.
“But I want to ensure that this is not in anyway to compromise the legislature, if anything, it is to strengthen the legislature.
“Because, with first hand, the legislature is to advise on any bill coming from the executive arm of the government, we will ensure we receive bills that will meet the expectations of Nigerians.
“We will always have different perspectives because we are legislature by design and orientation and the executive may bring a bill which it thinks in its judgement will enhance governance but when the legislature bring its perspective and we advise, I think it will enrich it.
“And when it comes to the National Assembly, it is not an APC National Assembly, it has a representation of other political parties and we have so far enjoyed support and cooperation and partnership of our colleagues from other political parties, particularly the PDP and we commend them for that.
“We are grateful for that, we have done that for them before. And we expect that for this, the cooperation and the partnership in the National Assembly with different political parties will continue. Because, we are going to serve Nigerians with different political parties persuasions.”
