Discussants at the summit which had former Speaker of the
Oyo State House of Assembly, Honourable Mikaheel Azeez- Alarape as Chairman
included Prince Sanda Ayobami, Dr. Stephen Lafenwa of the Political Science
Department, Alhaji Onike Olalekan Rahman, Hon. Muideen Olalekan Alatede and
Barrister Nurudeen Temilolu.
Barrister Seun Asamu, the Commissioner for Energy was one of
the guests at the Summit while Mrs. Fatima Hassan Adeleke, a Special Assistant
to the immediate past Governor of Oyo State was also in attendance.
In his opening remarks, Hon. Azeez Alarape described the
topic, ‘Renegotiating The Way Forward in the 21st Century Nigeria:
The Role of The Executive, Legislature and Judiciary’ as timely and fundamental
towards the attainment of an egalitarian society. “We need self-appraisal, is
it so far so good, so far so bad or so far so ugly? If you and I find ourselves
in government, how are we going to do it? You have to live in the minds of people”,
he said.
Speaking further, the former Speaker said “the essence of
governance is the welfare of the citizenry. Let us make Nigeria work. We should
not take delight in impunity. When we were screening, I refused to take money.
Even university administrators now go to the National Assembly to bribe them. We really need do things well and make
Nigeria great”.
Reacting to the question on whether an arm of the government
should be suspended, Barrister Temilolu disagreed. Rather, he recommended that
there should be a clear cut function for each. In his submission, Dr. Lafenwa
opined that the democracy currently being practiced in Nigeria is “military
democracy” because of the three decades of military rule the country had to
endure.
“The legislature is supposed to be the most important, but
most legislative houses today are mere rubber stamps. The executive still needs
to give assent even after two-third majority has voted. That makes the
executive more powerful.
Hon. Alatede said things will only change when Nigerians
learn from past mistakes. He also called for a more sincere war on corruption. He
also advocated for the financial autonomy of the legislature at the state
level. He noted that “the legislature cannot continue to go cap in hand to the
Governor and expect to be independent”.
Barrister Asamu, the Commissioner for Energy lent his voice
to the matter as he made it known that scrapping an arm of government is not
necessary. “We need to effectively administer what we have at this moment”, he
said. Continuing, he asserted that “democracy is the rule of the majority over
the minority. But are we demanding from those in government what we are
supposed to demand from them? “. He also
noted that those in government need to be above board as he stated that “governance
may be expensive but we should be able to cut cost. Those of us in government
must continue to caution ourselves and we must remain conscious of the effects
of our actions on the lives of others who we don’t know, who we have never met.
There must be a level of trust between the governed and those doing the governing
because every action taken has an impact on the lives of those you are
governing”.
Taking time to speak on the Ministry of Energy and Mineral
Resources, Asamu said “essentially, we are to explore and implement policies
for sustainable, renewable and green sources of power”. Though he didn’t mince
words in saying that it will not be a quick fix, Asamu assured that “we want to
disrupt the status quo in a positive way to bring the greatest good for all”.
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