According to him, Nigerians blame lawmakers for everything, including things not directly under their control.

The Senate President, represented by the senator representing Ogun Central, Shuaib Salisu, said this on Sunday at the 100th birthday colloquium of a Second Republic lawmaker, Senator Kunle Oyero, organised by the Abeokuta Grammar School Old Boys Association in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Akpabio said, “The one arm of government that people don’t really understand and is always a subject of ridicule and attack is the legislature. In fact, people sometimes don’t think legislators do anything at all.

“The problem is that the metric of measuring the performance of the legislators by the electorate is different from what is contained in the syllabus. The syllabus will say as a legislator your role is to make laws, perform oversight functions and make appropriations; those are the three things a legislator must perform.

“But any senator that confines himself to that will not get a return ticket even in his party because the metric of measuring the performance of legislators is the number of transformers, and other material things they give to the people they are representing.”

However, the Global President of AGSOBA, Sunday Oduntan, advocated that lawmakers should work part-time.

“Nobody should be blamed for anything. Our major problem is the structure and the way we do things. There is one thing to have good laws, another thing is to implement the law and I think that is where the problem is. The political terrain could be a lot better,” he added.

Lawan describes the sudden death of Barkindo, who was to conclude his second term at OPEC at the end of July, as tragic.

The Senate President described Barkindo’s leadership of the global oil cartel as exemplary, noting that the deceased worked assiduously to build cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC countries to save the energy market at a time of a global crisis.

Lawan says Barkindo’s pragmatic approach and hard work at the critical time brought stability to the volatile oil market.

The Senate President said Barkindo’s stewardship at OPEC made him a pride for Nigeria and Africa, adding that his death is a monumental loss to Nigeria, the world and particularly to the global energy community.

“The news of the tragic death of OPEC Secretary-General, Mohammed Barkindo, came to me as a rude shock.

“Barkindo’s exemplary leadership at the global oil cartel brought stability to the ever-volatile oil market.

“The world will remember him for how he was able to rally both the OPEC and non-OPEC members together to save the energy market.

“The world will miss him and particularly the global energy community,” Lawan says.

According to him, while the nation’s leaders seek solutions to the security crisis confronting the nation, the local government system should not be neglected.

Lawan, who disclosed this while addressing State House correspondents in an interview after the Eid-Mubarak prayers, explained further that the lack of autonomy potentially inhibits solutions as well as efforts by the Federal and state governments towards addressing the nation’s security challenge.

“We are all leaders and we are in this together, the solutions must come from us regardless of what levels of leadership we are – whether at the Federal Level, State Level, or even at the Local Government level.

“I also want to take this opportunity to say that we have diminished the local government system. I think we can attribute the security issues to the absence of a Functional Local Government System.

“I think the time has come for us to take up the challenge and ensure that the Local Government system functions. This is as we look for ways to curb the security challenge. We must never neglect the local government system. We must go back to our local government system to ensure they are autonomous and functional,” Lawan said.

The Speaker said he believes that those who have championed the call for succession might be misguided and do not mean well for the country.

Lawan disclosed this at plenary on Tuesday, stating that the vaccine would be administered to him in his office.

He said that the rest of the Senators are to fill forms to indicate their date of choice to be vaccinated within two weeks.

“These forms will be made available at the entrance. Our aides can come and take them but we have two weeks within which to take the vaccination,” Lawan said.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan made this known at plenary session on Wednesday.

Lawan explained that the development followed new items of expenditure transmitted to the National Assembly by the Executive.

He said that the Committee on Finance will work through the weekend to capture the fresh requests from the executive in their 2021 Appropriation Bill report.

The Senate President said that the Senate would hold a special session on Monday 21 December, 2020, to consider and pass the 2021 budget

He explained that lack of compliance with resolutions of the Legislature was a strong reason why the nation is struggling with good governance.

“The lack of compliance with resolutions of the National Assembly is a great deficit in our desire to develop and provide services called good governance. One hand cannot carry the entire house; that is why the framers of our Constitution decided to say the Judiciary is there, the Legislature is there, and the Executive is there, and all of us have our various roles to play.”

Lawan disclosed this in statement on Monday in Abuja at the 2020 National Legislative Conference, where he was represented by the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Sen. Sani Abdullahi.

The conference tagged: “Legislative Investigation Powers, Expectations and Challenges and the Way Forward,” was organised by the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in collaboration with HallowMace Communications Ltd.

The Senate president said the Legislature alone could not provide the desired good governance to Nigerians.

“It is clear that the National Assembly is pro-poor in terms of what we discuss in the chambers and even during investigations. These are the very important things we do, but we do not have the power to sing our songs, somebody has to sing it for us.

“In terms of peoples’ representations in our motions and investigations; one aspect is compliance with resolutions that come out of it.

“Democracy must work for our people, that is the only way all of us can have the peace that we so much desire,” he said.

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan disclosed this in his opening remarks before President Muhammadu Buhari was called to lay the national budget before the joint session of the National Assembly.

“The National Assembly is ready to pass the 2021 budget before the end of the year, by the grace of God,” Lawan said.

The Senate President also recalled how the parliament promised to pass the 2020 budget before the year ended, which was achieved.

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan who stated this, said this was done in order for the house to observe the full COVID-19 protocols.

He said that those who would not be admitted may however join the session virtually.

The President is expected to present the 2021 national budget estimates to the joint session of the federal parliament on Thursday.

Prior to this announcement, some Governors, Ministers, top presidential aides and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had accompanied the President to present the budget in the past.

Lawan made these remarks following a motion by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North), on the floor of the Senate titled: “That the Senate and House of Representatives do sit in a joint session to receive an address by Mr. President Commander-In-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR on Thursday, 8th October, 2020 at 11.00am on the 2021 Appropriation Bill.”

“The joint session normally takes place in the chamber of the House of Representatives.

“It is going to be the same. It will take place there but by this time around because of the situation of COVID-19, we have made arrangements to observe social distancing in the Chamber.

“We also have to wear out face masks mandatorily. We are going to also abridge the entire event because we will be many there.

“So the entire event will last just about an hour. From the entry of the President into the chamber and addresses and the presentation and laying will be just an hour event so that we are able to comply with the requirements of the COvID-19 protocol.

“Mr. President too, this time around, will not be accompanied by many people on the entourage.

“Only few people – very key and relevant to budget – will accompany Mr. President into the Chamber.

“I think by the arrangement those of them that have little to do with the budget will join virtually what will happen,” Lawan said.

The Senate, however ordered the arrest and prosecution of operatives of SAR who were involved in the recent killings of innocent Nigerians across the country.

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, stated this while ruling on the Senate resolution on a motion by Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

Tinubu, in her motion, drew the attention of her colleagues to the recent extra-judicial killings and human rights abuses by SARS operatives.

According to Lawan, a mere dismissal of overzealous and reckless operatives was not enough but that they must be made to face the full wrath of the law.

“Those who are involved in the recent killings of innocent Nigerians should be arrested and prosecuted.

“Scrapping the SARS now may not be the best option because the nation may lose the best hands in the agency while trying to do away with the bad eggs among them.

“The dismissal of the bad ones among them is not also enough. Offenders must be arrested and prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others,” he said.

The red chamber also mandated its committee on Police, Judiciary and Human Rights to probe human rights abuses of Nigerians by SARS operatives in the last few years.

The chamber asked the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to establish a special unit that will constantly investigate and monitor the conduct of SARS operatives.

It also directed the authorities of the Nigerian Police Force to utilise part of its trust fund to trains its operatives.

The meeting was focused on the recent misunderstanding between the National Assembly and the Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, over the proposed 774,000 jobs.

Recall that Keyamo had engaged members of the Senate and House of Representatives committee on a shouting match on the matter.

While the National Assembly ordered Keyamo to suspend the recruitment, the minister had on Tuesday said Buhari had directed him to continue with the process.

The statement enraged the federal lawmakers who mandated their leaders to meet Buhari on the matter.

Lawan, while speaking at the end of the meeting with the President warned that henceforth,  the National Assembly would no longer tolerate attitudes of government officials that are inimical to cordial relationship with the executive.

Lawan who spoke in the presence of Gbajabiamila, noted that the current National Assembly has so far had a cordial relationship with the Executive arm, attributing it to the President.

He also noted that the cordial relationship between the Executive and Legislative arms had been particularly forged so as to better deliver quality leadership to Nigerians.

He said, “If you are an appointee of the President, you are supposed to be reflective of the attitude of the President towards the National Assembly.”