Amaechi urges National Assembly to protect democracy

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi
| credits: File copy

RIVERS State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has called on the National Assembly to add political and parliamentary activism to its oversight functions in order to protect the country’s democracy.

 Amaechi reminded the members of the National Assembly that they were voted into power to help Nigerians  who elected them.

The governor made this call on Wednesday when the Chairman, House Committee on Emergency and Disaster in the Federal House of Representatives, Mr. Ifedayo Abegunde, led other members of the committee on a courtesy visit to him at the Government House in Port Harcourt.

Amaechi explained that the helpless citizens of the country were looking up to the legislature to redeem them from their  poor welfare condition.

Abegunde said, “You sit in the parliament to think of ways to help the citizens because if the citizens are helpless, the parliament must be the avenue that the helpless can be redeemed.

 “That is the reason you are voted into power.  The judiciary started judicial activism in 2007 when I got the Supreme Court judgment.  You can also be progressives in the PDP.

“If the parliamentarians don’t do that, then one day, the citizens will wake up and start running for their lives. That is why you (Reps) and I (Amaechi) have the responsibility to repair the damage.  We need to protect our democracy.”

The governor charged the federal lawmakers to see their responsibility as an extensive commitment that bordered on economic, social and political disasters affecting the citizenry.

“I must say that on different occasions, you have risen to defend democracy. You have a big assignment.  The assignment is not only natural but also man-made disasters.

“The disaster includes the disaster in Yobe, Borno, and Adamawa states.  We are living in a disastrous country where there are disasters everywhere; there is even disaster in the revenue that we are sharing.

“You won’t believe that from between N18bn and N20bn federal allocation that we have been receiving from the Federal Government, we now receive only about N13bn monthly.

“This means that our wage bills are now affected; social development is also affected. That is disaster too,” he added.

Amaechi, however, thanked the federal lawmakers for coming to the state to commiserate with him and the victims of the inferno that razed the Rumuwoji Market and destroyed  property worth millions of naira.

He appealed to the Federal Government to assist the state in the development of the market and payment of compensation to those grossly affected by the December 17, 2013 inferno.

Earlier, the Chairman of the committee, Abegunde had said their visit to the state was predicated on the House resolution on Thursday, January 30, 2014, which mandated it to commiserate with Amaechi and the victims of the Rumuwoji Market inferno.

 Abegunde pointed out that the committee would assess the level of damage caused by the inferno with a view to seeking redress for the victims from the National Emergency Management Agency.