TheCable

Abdulraheem Olawuyi, re-elected member of the house of representatives, has joined the race for the speakership of the 10th assembly.

Olawuyi, who represents Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero federal constituency in Kwara state and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said he is “eminently qualified” to become the speaker of the house.

He said if elected, Nigeria will witness positive changes and a seamless relationship between all arms of government

“I am eminently qualified to lead the house because of my experience and connection in the house; I mean my level of interaction in the house, the friendships I have made,” Olawuyi said.

“I know how the house works and I have seen a lot of areas where I can improve the standard of our legislation at the national assembly. Some few weeks ago, precisely in the first week of April, I made an official declaration to run for the office of the speaker of the 10th assembly, and by the grace of God, the house will be inaugurated on the 13th of June where members-elect will select their leaders.

“By the grace of God, if I am elected as the speaker of the house, I have a lot of things up my sleeve to change the narrative. As much as I want to run a seamless government and a legislative assignment with the executive, I want to assure Nigerians that my leadership will not be a rubber stamp kind of leadership.

“We will do our job as legislators; we will not be a rubber stamp but at the same time, we will not want to be an antagonistic house to the executive. By the grace of God, the 10th assembly is going to be one of the most vibrant houses because a sizable number of the members of the house are returning with experience. These experiences will be shared with the newly-elected members.”

Olawuyi said if elected, he would encourage his colleagues to sponsor bills that will impact the lives of Nigerians.

“I will encourage my colleagues to go for bills that are people-oriented. There is no bill that is not important but some are more important. An example is the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that was passed by the 9th assembly,” he said.

“There are still a lot of bills like this. Those are the bills I will encourage my colleagues to push for; bills that will create enabling platforms for businesses, encourage investors, and remove unnecessary bureaucracy.”

‘I’LL STRENGTHEN OVERSIGHT ON MDAs’

Olawuyi added that if given the opportunity to become the speaker, he would also strengthen oversight functions by the house on ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

He said though the 9th assembly has done a lot in that area, there is still room for improvement.

“Oversight function is the major, not limited to that, but it is the major assignment of a legislator. That is where the checks and balances come from. So we need to strengthen that,” he said.

“Honestly, the 9th assembly has done a lot but we need to improve. There are some acts that established some MDAs that need to be corrected. There are some loopholes where these MDAs hide under to operate which is not good for our democracy. We need to work on that; probably replace that law or rework it to suit the aspirations of Nigerians.”

On the low female representation in Nigeria’s political space, Olawuyi described the issue as “disappointing”.

“It’s quite disappointing that the last election, most of our women did not make it back to the house,” he said.

“We had quite a number of them in the 9th assembly but it has reduced. I am from Kwara state and Kwara is one of the states that take care of women’s inclusiveness in government. If I am elected as speaker, I will encourage bills and motions that give more power to women.”