TheCable

Ben Bruce, a senator from Bayelsa state, says Nigeria has not made any progress in the past two years.

The lawmaker said he was proposing that the senate meets with President Muhammadu Buhari when he returns to discuss the problems facing the country.

In an interview with Vanguard, Bruce said everything in the country agitates him.

He also said the country was in big trouble, and that there was no point discussing with anybody who is not the president.

“Nigeria has not really made any progress in the last two years. I think we are in big trouble right now. When the president gets back, we would need to sit down with him and have a conversation. There is no point having a conversation with anybody who is not a president,” he said.

“I am thinking the senate. We will have a conversation. A bipartisan team will go and meet with Mr President and have a conversation with him. Not APC senators meeting the president but the senate meeting him and have a conversation on the future of Nigeria. That’s what I am going to propose. That we sit down with him and discuss the issues. He’s the president and you can’t change that and I respect constitutional authority.

“He is the president of Nigeria and we will sit down with him and discuss the problems facing the country. In 2019 when there is another president, that will no another issue. But right now, he is the president and we need to sit down with him and discuss the issues. I understand he will be here next week.

“Let’s talk to the president directly. I think it is important to speak with President Buhari. All the issues affecting the country. This is my proposal. I am going to sit down with the senate president and say, look, let’s sit down with the president. He’s not an APC president. He’s president of Nigeria. So, I don’t want say APC governors, senators seeing him. He should see Nigeria not APC. This is what I am going to request, hopefully, it will be granted and we are going to have a conversation.

“Everything agitates my mind. The economy is in trouble, there is inflation, unemployment, schools; every year, a million kids cannot go to school. Automobile policy of Nigeria is 1922 policy. Mass transit policy is 1825. Our educational policy is 1942 policy. Are you kidding?”

He said Nigeria was in the stone-age, and that previous governments did a lousy job of running the country.

“I don’t want to accuse anybody but previous governments did a lousy job. You have an educational policy set up by the colonial masters, have you changed that? Do you have a policy on power, health? Name one rich man who does not send his child, or himself to be treated abroad. You spend millions of naira in Ghana every year on education. You have the health stories in India. So, what is going right? That has to be dealt with. We need to discuss it. I am not a critic, not here to run down anybody but I have a solution to our problem.”