Ikenna Nicholas Ukwa
Since he assumed the position of the President of the 10th Senate, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, has remained focused on leading an arm of the National Assembly that supports the executive and legislature in stabilising the country.
From the quality of bills passed by the Red Chamber under his leadership, there is no doubt that the choice of the former Akwa Ibom State Governor as Senate President by his colleagues was not a mistake.
He has also brought to bear his vast experiences in public office in the country which has been instrumental in some of decisions taken by the Senate under his leadership.
For instance, the Senate under Akpabio had opposed the proposal for a 40 per cent increase in electricity tariffs in the country, which would have added additional burden on the suffering masses. Electricity providers that have over the years fallen short of reasonable expectations of Nigerians most of whom had been suffering untold hardship arising from the inefficiencies of power generation and distribution companies, had proposed electricity tariff hike in July. But the Senate kicked against it and urged the power providers to “allow Nigerians to breathe.”
Another important feat recorded by the Senate under Akpabio, was its rejection of a purported move by President Bola Tinubu, Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other leaders of the region to deploy troops to Niger Republic after the military coup in the country.
Rising from a closed-door session that lasted close to two hours to discuss, the letter written to the Senate by Tinubu on the decisions taken by the regional body, the Senate had asked ECOWAS to strengthen political and diplomatic options and other means to resolve the political compass in the Niger Republic. The Senate while condemning the Niger coup in totality had commended Tinubu and other Heads of State of the other States of ECOWAS for their prompt response and the positions taken on the unfortunate development in Niger Republic.
Also, another remarkable move by the Akpabio-led Senate was the halting of a nationwide industrial action by doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) after a closed-door meeting with principal officers of the Senate as well as the different strike and threats to down tool by the organised labour.
Concerned by the devastating impact of climate change on some communities in the country, Akpabio recently pledged to secure funds from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to address the losses and damages. He said the IPU, a global body of parliamentarians, has a budget of $30 billion to fight climate change and that he will use his office as an executive member of the union to secure some funds during the 28th Conference of Parties (COP) in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to address the effects of climate change back home.
Akpabio said this recently during an interactive session with the management of the Nigerian Ecological Office at the Senate complex, Abuja. COP is a global decision-making forum on climate change with about 198 member-countries. The COP28 will hold in Dubai from November 30th, to December 12th.
“I was elected into the executive committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. I have found that within that organisation itself, there are budget intervening countries through parliament in ecological matters and climate change is about $30 billion.
“In the session for COP28 in Dubai, we have our own session on climate change. I will let them know that Nigeria is a place they should intervene,” the senate president said.
Akpabio said part of the damage caused by climate change in Nigeria was flooding that ravaged many parts of the country in recent times, adding that the flooding got worse after the neighbouring Cameroon opened its dam.
“Whenever the dam in Cameroon is opened, it happens on an annual basis, the amount of water that comes normally wipes out a lot of islands including most of the uplands in Bayelsa, those houses will wash away.
“It goes all the way to Ondo, down to Akwa Ibom. Most of the villages do not exist during that period of the raining season and when those dams are being built through renovation of yearly maintenance,” he said.
The Senate President lamented the level at which the flood ravaged many parts of the country.
The recent rejig of the Senate’s Standing Committees is another area where Akpabio displayed his accommodation spirit as he named Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (APC, Ondo) as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as Chairperson, Senate Committee on Local Content.
Despite the uproar during the reshuffling of the parliamentary cabinet, he was able to manage the situation as he announced the composition and leadership of the standing committees in the upper chamber with about 72 committees.
In the new development, Akpabio replaced committees of the sacked senators with other senators. The Senate President named some of the new senators as chairmen and vice chairmen of standing committees, saying that the rejigging of the committee leadership was for effectiveness.
No doubt, Akpabio has continued to provide quality leadership for the Senate and must be encouraged. He remains a stabilising force in the country and must be given all the support to do more.
-Ukwa is Senior Legislative Aide to the Senate President.
