Nigeria Is Suffering From Poverty Of Democratic Culture - Tambuwal

House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal has said that Nigeria is still suffering from acute poverty of democratic culture after 14 years of uninterrupted democratic practice.

Tambuwal made the remark at the second anniversary of the 7th House of Representatives in Abuja on Thursday.

He also said that internal party democracy is a ``sine qua non'' to genuine development of democratic culture.

The speaker called on all stakeholders in the political system to allow peoples' votes to count at both inter-party and intra-party elections.

According to him, true democracy does not happen by accident.

He advised that politicians and beneficiaries of political patronage should be in the vanguard of deepening democracy in order to deliver the noble expectations of the people.

According to him, for true democracy to be entrenched in the system, Nigerians must place national interest above selfish and other parochial considerations.

He called for a deliberate promotion of viable and transparent electoral process.

"After 14-years of uninterrupted practice of democracy, we still suffer acute poverty of democratic culture and practices. This is a challenge to all Nigerians but more so for those of us deeply concerned in the democratic process and operation.

"We must place national interest above selfish interest; we must place objective principles above parochialism and whims. We must deliberately promote a viable and transparent electoral process, the right to opinion and dissent must be given space in our political discussed.

"We ought to take the vow that all votes must count whether in intra-party democratic processes or at the level of inter-party contests. True democracy does not happen by accident, it is therefore, our duty as intimate practitioners and beneficiaries of political patronage to be in the vanguard of the deepening of democracy.

"The people of Nigeria desire and deserve this, it is right and honourable, we have a duty to deliver these noble expectations,'' he said.

In an objective appraisal of the house in the last two years of its inauguration and legislative agenda, Tambuwal said that the 7th house made appreciable progress.

He, however, said that there were some areas of poor achievements.

He said some of the major successes of the 7th House of Representatives include unprecedented stability, consultative representation and vibrancy, transparency fiscal responsibility.

He cited the people's public sessions held in the 360 constituencies nationwide to avail the people the opportunity to participate in the making of the constitution.

Tambuwal said that the initiative was well received by the people of Nigeria, and the participation was massive and contributions robust and far reaching.

The speaker said the house had recorded success in the area of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which had undergone public hearings at the six geo-political zones .

He said that arrangements were underway to have a central hearing in Abuja for those in the FCT and all other Nigerians and groups who were unable to take advantage of the zonal hearings.

Other areas of progress enumerated include series of routine public hearings on critical issues such as fuel subsidy regime, Aviation, Capital Market, Non-remittance of revenues by MDAs, Non-implementation of budget, among others.

"Regarding the objective of zero tolerance to corruption, the house has been decisive in meting out administrative sanctions even when judicial processes are inchoate.

"We have had to apply such sanctions as suspension and removal from committee headships on our colleagues as means of self-censorship and internal discipline.

The house is gradually but firmly institutionalising the war against corruption in order to maintain high ethical standard for all legislators. The house Committee on Ethics and Privileges is hereby directed to expeditiously undertake the comprehensive review of the Code of Conduct to bring it up to international parliamentary best practices,'' he said.

He said that the house had within the years under review, raised 512 bills which had passed first reading, while 60 bills were so far passed into law and 134 were undergoing legislative action.

Tambuwal said that no fewer than 700 motions were raised on the floor and resolutions passed on matters of concern to the citizens such as national disasters, communal violence, governmental oppression, among others

He said that the house had been able to expose corruption, inefficiency and waste in governance during its oversight function

According to him, huge sums of money running into trillions of Naira have been saved as a result of the robust oversight regime currently in place in the house.

He commended the members for exhibiting diligence selflessness, passion, maturity as well as sacrifice toward the promotion and preservation of national interest.

However, the speaker noted the areas of unsatisfactory performance to include lack of timely reportage of committees in bills and other matters referred to them for action.

The speaker called on Nigerians to take cognisance of the fallibility of humanity, and appealed to the people to always call the house to order when necessary.

Meanwhile, the house has adjourned plenary session to June 25




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