By Audrey Lotechukwu
TUE, 20 OCT, 2020-theGBJournal-The Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has said he will not sign off on the 2021 budget unless his conditions are met.
He reeled out the conditions during the House Plenary Session today as he called for wholesale reforms of the Nigerian Police Force and an overhaul of the nation’s internal security and policing framework.
‘’Let us take the opportunity of this moment to do the hard things, make the right choices and pursue those objectives that drive progress and put us in good stead for generations to come,’’ the Speaker said amidst the festering nationwide protests by Nigerian youths across the globe and the rising calls for dialogue.
‘’To the young people across the country who have led this protest, whose call for change has brought about this historical moment, you are the midwives of national rebirth, you have moved a nation to action and now you must join in doing the hard work of making it real, the vision of more just, more prosperous and more resilient nation.
Please do not allow your righteous course to be hijacked by those with base motives, who see in this moment an opportunity to pursue vendettas, to spread division, exploit the many divisions that exist in our society and bring our nation to its knees.
You have raised your voices and matched to demand a better Nigeria from Abuja to Calgary and London. Your voices have been heard. Do not allow anybody to convince you that to withdraw from the streets now is to concede defeat.
This is the time to move your agitations from the chaos of the streets to the painstaking deliberations of strategic partnerships that birth policies and produce legislation. It is time to mobilise your voices in support of specific policy invention that will deliver on our shared objectives of national renewal.’’
The assured that with his colleagues in the House of Representatives, he will visit over the next week, some of the families of those who have lost loved ones to Police brutality and when we come back, we would work together to honour the memory of those we have lost.
According to him, ‘’the House of Representatives will pass an Electoral Reform Bill in time for the next generation elections so that we will continue to improve the process of electing our political representatives at all levels,’’ in apparent response to the demand for good governance by the Nigerian youths.
‘’I will support the amendment of the constitution to ensure that the provisions of fundamental human rights have teeth, resources control is dealt with equitably and the next generation of Nigerians do not inherit evident dysfunctions of our current system.’’
On the 2021 Budget he said, ‘’as Speaker of this House of Representatives, let me say it now for the records to reflect and with the expectation that I will be held to account.
I will not sign off on the 2021 Budget that does not include adequate provision to compensate those who have suffered violence and brutality in the hands of the Police in Nigeria in the last decade.
I will not sign off on a budget that does not meet the reasonable demands of the ASUU to which government has already acceded. There is no better time to rethink the system of funding for higher education in Nigeria. The current system does a great disservice to our children and our country and we must commit to changing it so that we can free our institutions of higher learning to the citadels where innovation thrives and excellence is a given. This is my commitment.’’
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