A Forum of serving and former lawmakers has justified the controversial token sent to lawmakers before they proceeded on their annual recess.
Spokesperson of the Forum operating under the aegis of The Initiatives, Honourable Eseme Eyiboh put up the defence at a news conference in Abuja at the weekend.
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, had informed his colleagues that a token has been sent to their individual accounts by Clerk of the National Assembly, Magaji Tambuwal, to enable them enjoy their vacation.
Eyiboh however said the Senators deserved the allowances since they have not received their salary before they proceeded on their annual vacation.
He maintained that the token was a gesture to enable them meet the demands of their constituents in the absence of their entitlements.
He said:” “In a time like this, Senators are going on holidays. A token had already been sent to them. He did not say the Clerk shall send. He said the Clerk had sent.
“As of the time he was making that statement, the senators had received the alert already.
“Regardless of the fact that they are senators, these people were inaugurated on June 13th. We are now in August and they are going on break.
“They will resume in September. By the time they resume in September, how do we expect them to cope since they had not received their salaries.
“The capital releases to all ministries, departments and agencies were withheld.
“So they had not collected their salaries. Whatever is given to them, whether as salaries, allowances or whatever it is, they deserved it.
“The worker deserves his wages. If you allow a Senator to go on holiday,
“In a time like this, some senatorial districts have as much as 18 local government areas. If a senator goes to his senatorial district now without salary, don’t you know what will happen to him?
“That token was the representation of a gesture. If you are entitled to your salary and it was not paid, you could be given a token.
“It is an intervention, it is to ameliorate suffering you would have otherwise suffered.
“The word ‘token’ is just an intervention. He didn’t say they had posted your salary.
“For a man who is kind and generous as he is, there is no just reason to attack him, there is nothing wrong with what he has said.
“His colleagues had already received the money. Let us be considerate because the senators had made a lot of sacrifices.
“They work till 11pm on some days and outside the legislative days. I think we should appreciate that.”
Eyiboh also defended the visit of Senator Akpabio to the President Villa for consultations on certain issues of national importance.
He said, “The issue of troops deployment to the Niger Republic was subjected to constructive engagement by senators and the outcome was that the President should embrace diplomatic means to resolve the crisis in the country.
“Akpabio will be the best Senate President in our time. He will be on the side of the people.”
He further argued that the decisions taken by the Senate on the presidential request for troops deployment to Niger Republic, rejection of proposed electricity tariff, consultations with the organised Labour on fuel subsidy removal and dialogue with National Association of Resident Doctors were indicative of commitment to work harmoniously with the Executive arm of government.
He said; “When this particular leadership of the National Assembly NASS emerged, there were rumours that the Senate would be a rubber stamp but the first indication of ethical integrity was when Mr President sent a request to the Senate for deployment of troops to Niger Republic, many thought it was just going to be a mere formality but today, we are proud to note that that particular Senate did not only deprive, but contributed immensely by saying that all diplomatic measures be exhausted. Just few days ago, the ECOWAS Parliament aligned with what the Senate said, that diplomatic measures be exhausted.
“Secondly, when the electricity companies and the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC wanted a 40 percent hike in electricity tariff, the Senate rose to the occasion and said Nigerians were already suffering and decided to ensure the stoppage of that increment. That intervention has gone so far in assisting Nigerians.
“Thirdly, this is a country with opportunities but which cannot come to fruition without the rule of law. The Nigeria Labour Congress NLC because of the withdrawal of fuel subsidy went on strike for one day. The federal government was engaging them and it went to court to stop Labour and thereafter, when there was increased from N540 to N617, Labour said no and rightly went on strike. The Nigerian Senate engaged labour constructively and it culminated into the NLC appreciating and understanding the situation that we found ourselves. On our part, we are saying that the NLC did very well for opening up the corridor for discussions and we also appreciate the Senate for its intervention.
“In health, the resident doctors embarked on strike. They wanted to go on a nationwide protest. They were very genuine in their requests, acts and conduct. They did well. The same Senate decided to engage them and the outcome of that engagement was the calling off of the strike by the resident doctors and we are very grateful to them. We are also very grateful to the Nigerian Senate for this intervention.
“Still in the effort to establish the independence of the legislature and that it is not a rubber stamp, the President sent 48 ministerial nominees to the Senate and they were invited for screening. Out of the 48, the Senate stepped down approval for 3. You would have naturally expected that the Senate would have returned the same number to the President but they sat even on non-legislative days like Friday, Saturday and Monday and sat into the night, screening the nominees.
“In conducting that exercise, they went ahead to screen them and asked probing questions. Take a bow is associated with parliamentary precedence and privilege but it did not in any way affect their final submissions.
“We are therefore appealing to Nigerians to give them the benefit of the doubt and support the presidency of the Senate under Akpabio to succeed in the interests of all”, he added.
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