A
abujagirl
Guest
The Federal Government yesterday described he directive of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to its federal lawmakers to block all executive bills and nominations as anti-people and against national interest.
A statement issued by Labaran Maku, Minister of Information on behalf of the government read, "Our worry is that the purpose of democracy is development. Therefore, we believe that as far as our democracy is concerned, national interest should be paramount and so such directive to our elected representatives to block bills, or policies that will lead to the development of our nation is not what we expect of our political leaders across party spectrum.
"We expect that as our democracy moves forward, members of the National Assembly will be allowed to use their conscience and judgment based on their understanding of any Bill before them, based on the fact that they have sworn to an oath to defend the constitution, and to use their positions to advance national development.
"Partisanship is in democracy, but it should not be taken over and above national interest or above the need for us to offer service to Nigerians. All of us are in government to meet the needs of our people.
"If you say that the budget should not be passed, it means you want to stop the nation’s economy. You want to ensure that traders, who will depend on the budget; farmers, who will depend on the budget; citizens, who depend of the budget; teachers, who depend on the budget; you are asking them to either go to hell, or that you are endangering their survival because of partisanship.
"I believe that this kind of directive or position is anti-national interest, it is anti-development of Nigeria, and it is not something anybody, who loves this country, and who is a democrat, should encourage. We believe that the evolution of opposition parties is good for the nation. We want competition so that everybody will perform better.
"We may be standing on different platforms but we are all working for Nigerians. We are not enemies. We should not at any point begin to heat up polity, begin to truncate the development of ordinary Nigerians.
"So, when you say lawmakers should block bills which are for the development of the country and the well-being of the people, you are killing democracy itself and you are truncating national development. I believe that was a mistake, it must have been one of those slips of tongues. This democracy should be supported. If this nation progresses, it does not belong to Goodluck Jonathan alone or any party.
A statement issued by Labaran Maku, Minister of Information on behalf of the government read, "Our worry is that the purpose of democracy is development. Therefore, we believe that as far as our democracy is concerned, national interest should be paramount and so such directive to our elected representatives to block bills, or policies that will lead to the development of our nation is not what we expect of our political leaders across party spectrum.
"We expect that as our democracy moves forward, members of the National Assembly will be allowed to use their conscience and judgment based on their understanding of any Bill before them, based on the fact that they have sworn to an oath to defend the constitution, and to use their positions to advance national development.
"Partisanship is in democracy, but it should not be taken over and above national interest or above the need for us to offer service to Nigerians. All of us are in government to meet the needs of our people.
"If you say that the budget should not be passed, it means you want to stop the nation’s economy. You want to ensure that traders, who will depend on the budget; farmers, who will depend on the budget; citizens, who depend of the budget; teachers, who depend on the budget; you are asking them to either go to hell, or that you are endangering their survival because of partisanship.
"I believe that this kind of directive or position is anti-national interest, it is anti-development of Nigeria, and it is not something anybody, who loves this country, and who is a democrat, should encourage. We believe that the evolution of opposition parties is good for the nation. We want competition so that everybody will perform better.
"We may be standing on different platforms but we are all working for Nigerians. We are not enemies. We should not at any point begin to heat up polity, begin to truncate the development of ordinary Nigerians.
"So, when you say lawmakers should block bills which are for the development of the country and the well-being of the people, you are killing democracy itself and you are truncating national development. I believe that was a mistake, it must have been one of those slips of tongues. This democracy should be supported. If this nation progresses, it does not belong to Goodluck Jonathan alone or any party.