By Unukere Oboh
Kano State Governor Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has observed that democracy in Nigeria has reached its present stage due to the diligent participation and commitment by the legislature in all the three tiers of government.
The Governor made this observation on Monday while declaring opened the 2019 retreat for Members and Management Staff of the 9th Kano State House of Assembly organised by LeGIS 37, held at Bafra Hotel, Kaduna.
The Governor noted that the Nation’s nascent democracy had been grappling with various challenges ranging from constitutional crises to inter and intra party wrangling.
“Despite these enormous challenges our democracy settings are blossoming day by day and this will not be unconnected with robust and diligent participation and strict observation of stipulated functions of our legislative Members,” he stated.
Ganduje represented by his Deputy, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna explained that democracy as popularly known is a system in which supreme power is vested on the people and exercised by them directly through a system of representation.
“These representations were best portrayed in the legislative settings where each member represents a clearly identified constituency within a polity.
” Specifically, our State Assemblies played an important role in ensuring that the people they represent have gotten a fair share of development in various aspect of government activities,” the Governor revealed.
On the issue of constituency projects which came in to existence by the popular overture of the legislature, Dr. Ganduje declared that such constituency projects had in many cases, become the benchmark with which government performances are measured.
“Before the advent of this dispensation, during the military era, most of our rural areas are extremely regressive with no sign of any government activities. This is because governments at that time were much focused on urban and city areas as it is government without representation,” Ganduje said.
He further appreciated the cooperation and understanding of the Members of the 9th Kano State House of Assembly usually given to the present administration, which the Governor described as pillars of the enormous achievements recorded.
In his remarks, the Speaker Kano State House of Assembly Abdul’Aziz Garba Gafasa explained that the 2019 retreat titled ‘ The role of Legislature in the Evolution of Democracy in Nigeria ‘ was intended to among other things build Members’ capacity to begin to rely less on the Executive for the initiation of the bill.
Abdul’Aziz Gafasa said it was high time Members of House Assemblies should note that the practice of legislation should no longer be shrouded in secrecy and undue exclusion of relevant stakeholders, pointing out that without public participation, legislative inputs lose credibility.
“I urged all participants to feel free and interact freely with colleagues and facilitators so that we may extract the maximum benefit from their experiences in legislative practice and procedures,” Gafasa said.
Earlier, the Chairman LEGIS 37 Dr. Ibrahim Salim represented by Malam Isah Musa Farouk said the content of the inductions course had been carefully prepared to acquaint first timers and refresh the memory of the ranking Members of the historical relevant the legislative had been playing in the development of democracy in Nigeria.
