Senate pledges to expose corruption, poor governance

Senate has pledged to expose corruption and ensure good governance in the country. Speaking at the beginning of the second session of the Seventh Senate on Wednesday, the President of the Senate, David Mark, promised that the upper chamber would commit itself to its primary role of making laws that would improve the living conditions of Nigerians. He said, “This Senate will continue to work to expose corruption and poor administration in all areas of our national life. This is our constitutional duty. We must not allow ourselves to be cajoled into slumber or succumb to blackmail in the discharge of our duties. We will do all we can to uphold transparency and integrity in governance. “In this regard, all pending investigations should be speedily concluded without
compromising thoroughness and detail. We will however continue to bring all requisite legislative pressure to bear on the right quarters to do the right things with our reports.” Mark also told senators to brace for executing their oversight functions in the same manner the budget was passed in the bid to ensure infrastructural transformation of the country. Mark also said Senate would improve on its achievements made in the electoral reforms articulated by the Sixth National Assembly, vowing that loopholes in the current electoral laws would be plugged by further review of the laws. He added, “We will work to ensure that the loopholes in our electoral laws and processes which unscrupulous Nigerians exploit to undermine the collective will of the electorate are plugged. The truth is that if we have to move forward as a country, we must get our processes of political recruitment right. This we are committed to doing.” He said the Senate would dedicate its forthcoming retreat to finding solutions to what he described as “the carnage and unwarranted attack on the nation”. On the review of the Constitution, Mark said, “May I also emphasise that constitution amendment remains one of our major tasks. This is because we believe that it holds the key to our many structural deformities such as insecurity, endemic. “As usual this constitution review process will be participatory, transparent, and inclusive. We did it before. We will do it again and even better because we have experience and precedence to our advantage.” While commending senators for their contributions, Mark stressed the need for greater commitment in the new legislative year. He said, “I therefore wish to impress it on you that having done that, we cannot afford to put a poor structure on a sound and solid foundation. While a job well begun is half done, we have to continue on the path of excellence in the pursuit of our legislative agenda and discharge of our constitutional responsibilities.”