Nigerians Will Be Happy When The New Tax System Is Fully Implemented, Says Senator Ken Eze

Senator Ken Eze representing Ebonyi Central Senatorial District in this interview with Panafric Reporters, Alex Odeh, in Abakaliki states that the tax policy of the federal government led by President Ahmed Tinubu on implementation will galvanize and rejuvenate the Nigeria economy such that poor farmers can enjoy their proceeds without paying all of them to tax collectors. Excerpts:

Just few days, we marked June 12th democracy day. And giving a scorecard to Mr. President, one can one say that he has done well, considering the situation he met the country?

People are quick to forget where we are coming from. And people are equally quick to forget that this is a president that has been in the saddle of power for two years. And the rot in the system is not a rot that was accumulated over two years. It’s right from the very foundation at the end of the civil war that the country continued to degenerate, gradually, gradually, for over years. How many years now? And we are expecting Mr. President to perform a miracle. Yes, if that miracle is performed, we will applaud him, and we will thank God. But let’s be realistic and sincere about our reportage and about our assessment of Mr. President.

Do you think Mr President has addressed the challenges faced by this country economically and otherwise?

He has good thinking for the country. He has policies that he feels will rejuvenate the economy and the system. But the country is bedeviled with high-dreaded monsters, starting from insecurity, starting from economic downturn, and other social vices in this society. So he has done well. We have to continue to encourage him. What we do not understand sometimes is that this whole thing does not stop at the table of Mr. President.

Every Nigerian citizen has a role to play in any way you find yourself. You have a role to play. As a journalist, you have a role to play.And putting all this effort together culminates to the expected result we are asking for. So if Mr. President has not done well, you as a journalist as well have not done well. Even the market has not done well too. The civil society has not done well too. Government is all-encompassing. They condition their policies.

How have we, all the organs that should implement those policies, how have we performed in actualizing the intent of the government? So narrowing it down to your question, I may not be digesting the speech of Mr. President, but he has done very well for these two years. But we can still do better.

In what area(s) specifically has Mr. President performed well?

Number one, he came with a renewed hope agenda. And with eight-point agenda, which he is tackling sequentially. He came on the assumption of office, he promptly removed fuel subsidy, which to many people seem to be a scam, and has been really draining the country to such a point that the country can no more breathe again.

And that’s why Mr. President, in one of his speeches, said, let the poor breathe. He made this statement because of the extent to which subsidy is dealing with the economy of this country. And there is no way a country will succeed with a zero economy.

Mind you, we derive our revenue from oil resources. That constitutes, I think, about 90% of the revenue accruing to this country. And if by the end of the day, this revenue is just more like, you know, transferred or used in paying debts and paying subsidy, what is left for the government for developmental projects and to run the government? None.

Let me tell you, if the president had not taken that action, people will say it was so prompt. But that was what the circumstances warranted at the point he took over. There was no money to run the country. Civil servants would not have been paid. Of course, you were hearing pockets of non-payment of salary and all those stuff. Are you still hearing it? Because there is enough to run the system.

From the savings as a result of removal of subsidies. You can hear about, were you hearing about commissioning of major projects before now? In the last administration and the subsequent one, major projects can be started now and funded fully and commissioned within a time frame. Major projects. That’s why you can talk about legacy projects. And these developmental projects, infrastructures, is the engine block of the economy that drives the economy. In every facet of the government, it’s well-funded. Starting from the local government. Local government received about four times the money they were receiving before. The state received about five times the fund they were receiving before.

Is there any area the Nigeria citizens are expected to contribute in national development?

Like when there is food insecurity, it was so critical. But the way Nigerians are the ones sabotaging it. We should be able to produce enough food for the nation. But Nigerians, we are packing this food away and sending it to neighboring countries. Is it not selfishness? We are taking advantage of our porous borders, specially when they say there is no rice, the cost of this. But you see trailers lining up across the border, along the borderline, taking it away.

Even when government will pump money to subsidize some of these food items, you see these market people, you know, procuring these items at subsidized price and storing it, waiting for the rainy day. Therefore, denying the masses that privilege, that wonderful policies from government for them to benefit. They pack it, some take it away, some store it, and create artificial scarcity just to skyrocket the price.

That’s why I said everybody has a role to play. They create artificial scarcity. And prices of items that ordinarily should be low will equally jump up because it’s the forces of demand and supply that determine price. That is part of it. Everybody is involved in this. All we need to do is to assist Mr. President in the wonderful policies he has done.

Nigerians have been waiting for the new tax regime. What is the update?

Tax and tax amendment. All these are geared towards improving the economy of the country. Block the leakages, stop double taxation, and put together, have a unitary taxation, tax system that works. And I believe we’ve been able to handle it at National Assembly, waiting for his assent. I believe Nigerians will be happy when this new tax system is fully implemented. Everybody will be happy.

Down to the grassroots, where you see the poor market women taking their produce to market. There are so many people collecting different taxes. These things will be stopped. And poor farmers can enjoy the proceeds from their farm without paying everything to the tax collectors. The system will be sanitized. It’s one of the policies of the government, geared towards rejuvenating the economy of this country.

You said earlier that subsidy removal has made available enough funds. What have these funds translated to?

Look at the legacy project, the coastal road, the train system, railway system. There is enough money now to fund this critical project that can, you know, trigger the economy to put it on path of progress. If you check the federal budget from 2024 appropriation act to this 2025, you will see the fund, before now these systems are not being funded.

And how can the system work without good transportation system? How can you move goods from one point to the other? Without good railway system, good road network system, and all these things. You can’t, you know, underestimate the importance of this critical infrastructure. Mr. President is funding those areas now, and projects are being completed in those regards.

You could imagine the number of projects that we have selected for him to commission at his two years in office, from Ministry of Works, even at FCT. That’s the commissioning now. If you enter Abuja today, you will be proud to be a Nigerian.

You have traveled around the world. You will now see that there is not much difference between what you see at the western world, compared to Nigeria now, especially starting from the FCT federal capital territory. But that is at least the face of the country. You can be proud to be a Nigerian. You give it to the FCT minister. He has done well in his appointment, I mean Mr. President.

Putting the right people, it shows this is a man that wants to work. Not just political patronage. Putting the right peg in the right hole. The right people that knows the job. It involves critical thinking to be able to assess, to assemble a workable team, a team that can deliver. The appointment of the FCT minister and the Minister of Works is top-notch. We give it to him. And they are going to transform, contribute so much in transforming the economy of this country. There is no part of this country that you will go without seeing massive infrastructural development, especially on the road.

The roads have been abandoned for years. And we are not funded. Have been funded. we have in southeast, the southwest, the one in the rivers, we went for an oversight there. Southeast region road, there is what they call that road, that crisscrosses across the whole Niger Delta down to Lagos. East-West road. If you go to that road, you will be proud of what is going on there. We’ve gone there for an oversight. See the kind of technology that is being deployed. Because that is a very difficult terrain to construct a road at this rate.

The supervisor is serious. Where you see rigid pavement being constructed with 20mm rod. And it doesn’t mean it stretches 100km. Those roads are built to last. Give it to them. They are built to last. Forget about people who are more interested in criticizing the government. We should always be in a position to encourage the government. We are not getting it right. Not a road that after building, before the contractor pulls out of the site, starts developing potholes. It’s a thing of the past. I don’t think in the administration of Mr. President, you will see such roads. Because the people who are placed at the saddle of leadership in those areas are people who know the job. And they mean well for the country. That’s why they can’t compromise.

We celebrated June 12 to mark Nigeria’s democracy. De we really have anything to celebrate?

We have not really gotten there. But even the democracy we are copying, it can’t have a perfect democracy. In America, you could imagine what happened between Trump and Biden in the last election before he came back when Biden defeated him.

There were a lot of allegations of rigging. There were a lot of allegations of misappropriation of funds and people storming into Congress houses. Destroying government property. And even some of them were sent to prison until Trump came the other day to grant them a national pardon.

What is he telling you? There is no perfect system yet. You just continue working and improving on the system. You learn from your mistakes, you improve. And that is the part Nigeria is today. Our democracy is growing. What you get yesterday is not what you get today. And you can see a lot of policies that have been introduced in the system to make it work better. To make the democracy more stable. And sustainable.

These days we can talk about card readers. Those things were not there. You do electronic accreditation. You find out it has eliminated some of the anomalies involved during the election. You cannot even carry and snatch ballot box to somewhere and all that stuff.Who is collecting it? The card reader? Having accredited human beings? That is a wonderful technology that can be improved upon. And it will help our democracy.

You made mention of June 12. Just like what I told you about where we are coming from. Let’s not be quick to forget our background. That we just came from a military era. We had a series of coups. And trying to have a credible election. There has to be a lot of trials and errors.

And the demise of the issue of June 12 is one of those unfortunate issues that took place in the process of trying to rebuild our democracy. Even those that are main actors. I can just oppose that with the recent release from the former president of the country, Ibrahim Babangida. What he wrote in his book. If you read his book. People have happened to pass through that book. You see the problem of this country. But he cannot even tell you why June 12 was annulled. Cannot convincingly say, look at why June 12 was annulled.

Even some of the people that were being blamed before, after reading his book, will now say, oh, so these people are free. Even most of the accused. So we take June 12 as part of the process you have to pass through to achieve a more sustainable and stable democracy. So we are on path of progress in terms of our democracy.

Can you say Nigeria Senate has fared well?

I can only speak of 10th Senate. Which I belong. And I will tell you, 10th Senate is tagged a corrective Senate. That’s what 10th Senate. 10th Senate came on the platform of renewed hope. Renewing the hope of Nigerians. And in doing so, it is to correct, look back. See those areas who have done it wrong. And try to amend.

And have a better system. Most people will always jump to conclusion to say we don’t fight with the executive. It is not the duty of lawmakers. Our job is to make laws. And checkmate the executive. Oversight them. That’s our constitutional mandate. Ensure appropriate funds. Ensure that those funds are being judiciously utilized to the benefit of the masses whom we represent. And that we have done very well. You listen to the Senate President’s speech yesterday. You will hear the number of bills we have been able to, within two years, get on and produce.

And the number that has been assented to by Mr. President. The problem is that if the system is on the path of progress, you don’t just start quarreling. You don’t just quarrel. There should be that synergy. We are encouraging the executive to do theright thing. And if the executive is doing the right thing, there is no way to start quarreling. But that is what some people want. Why quarrel? We now have an assessment that the President has not breached any law.

He is respecting the separation of power. By passing all his bills to the National Assembly for us to do our legislative functions. By having effective communication with the National Assembly. Following the Constitution of the Federal Republic and doing all what he is doing. We have not found him wanting in any place. In any areas we need to advise, we advise and he adheres to it.

He listens. Why do we disagree? And we are part of this. We study his policies and he is following his policies judiciously. And we feel and encourage that with this policy well implemented, it will take us to the expected end. Why must we scuttle it? Why must we scuttle it? You can see what happened in this tax bill he brought. How many months now? Because we are deliberating on that tax.

Amending those areas that we should amend. I did not say we should just pass it verbatim. A lot of work has been done on that tax bill. People are reading and researching, burning the candle every night. You people may not know the enormity of the work that legislators do. It’s not jamborees as you people think.It’s made of a collection of intellectuals. You can’t even stand up to talk if you are not sure of yourself because you are being faced by the whole world. You are speaking.For you to even make any contribution, talk less of presenting a bill, you need to read and read and read and make a research. And come up with a bill. It’s not easy to make a law.

You look at the pros and cons of that law, you want to throw forward. That will guide the administration of this country. So it’s not just what you come up, you wake up, you just come up with a motion of bill. And that is why there’s a lot, even when you come up with the bill, there’s a lot of scrutiny to the bill. And most of the time the bill will be killed if it is found not to serve the interest of the public. The National Assembly is doing an excellent job.

By the time the tax bill will come out, assented by Mr. President, I believe every Nigerian will be happy with that bill. Because we have been able to analyze it, we have been able to drill, subject it to all sorts of tests and remove those areas we feel may not go well with Nigerians. And add areas we think we can improve on it.And the President gave us free hand to do that. He didn’t stop us. So why must we quarrel? Why must we disagree? This should be more like a teamwork.

We need to contribute our quota by supporting the executive to deliver on their mandate. So the National Assembly has done very well in terms of our constitutional duty. We have passed many bills, the number, I cannot give you, but it is contained in Mr. President’s speech yesterday, the President of the Senate. He read all of them out. No National Assembly tenurenhas been able to achieve what we have achieved within two years. Been in National Assembly, none. It’s on record there. None have passed the number of bills we have passed within two years. None.

Let’s come back home. You are a senator representing Central. How do you feel being a representative?

Number one is that I’m the choice of the people. The masses on their own chose me without any prompting. I was called to come and serve.

And that’s why my time and my administration is different from other politicians. Other politicians go for it. Mine is that I was called. And for them to make all that decision to call me to come and serve them, represent them. They must have seen some qualities in me. They must have watched me from afar.nAnd now believe that this is the man they need to represent them. And that assignment we graciously accepted to represent my people. And we’re prepared before we step into that big show. Some in National Assembly they call me jinx breaker.

(This file is longer than 30 minutes. Go Unlimited at TurboScribe.ai to transcribe files up to 10 hours long.)
ns Will Be Happy When The New Tax System Is Fully Implemented, Says Senator Ken Eze

Senator Ken Eze representing Ebonyi Central Senatorial District in this interview with Panafric reporter, Alex Odeh, in Abakaliki states that the tax policy of the federal government led by President Ahmed Tinubu on implementation will galvanize and rejuvenate the Nigeria economy such that poor farmers can enjoy their proceeds without paying all of them to tax collectors. Excerpts:

Just few days, we marked June 12th democracy day. And giving a scorecard to Mr. President, one can one say that he has done well, considering the situation he met the country?

People are quick to forget where we are coming from. And people are equally quick to forget that this is a president that has been in the saddle of power for two years. And the rot in the system is not a rot that was accumulated over two years. It’s right from the very foundation at the end of the civil war that the country continued to degenerate, gradually, gradually, for over years. How many years now? And we are expecting Mr. President to perform a miracle. Yes, if that miracle is performed, we will applaud him, and we will thank God. But let’s be realistic and sincere about our reportage and about our assessment of Mr. President.

Do you think Mr President has addressed the challenges faced by this country economically and otherwise?

He has good thinking for the country. He has policies that he feels will rejuvenate the economy and the system. But the country is bedeviled with high-dreaded monsters, starting from insecurity, starting from economic downturn, and other social vices in this society. So he has done well. We have to continue to encourage him. What we do not understand sometimes is that this whole thing does not stop at the table of Mr. President.

Every Nigerian citizen has a role to play in any way you find yourself. You have a role to play. As a journalist, you have a role to play.And putting all this effort together culminates to the expected result we are asking for. So if Mr. President has not done well, you as a journalist as well have not done well. Even the market has not done well too. The civil society has not done well too. Government is all-encompassing. They condition their policies.

How have we, all the organs that should implement those policies, how have we performed in actualizing the intent of the government? So narrowing it down to your question, I may not be digesting the speech of Mr. President, but he has done very well for these two years. But we can still do better.

In what area(s) specifically has Mr. President performed well?

Number one, he came with a renewed hope agenda. And with eight-point agenda, which he is tackling sequentially. He came on the assumption of office, he promptly removed fuel subsidy, which to many people seem to be a scam, and has been really draining the country to such a point that the country can no more breathe again.

And that’s why Mr. President, in one of his speeches, said, let the poor breathe. He made this statement because of the extent to which subsidy is dealing with the economy of this country. And there is no way a country will succeed with a zero economy.

Mind you, we derive our revenue from oil resources. That constitutes, I think, about 90% of the revenue accruing to this country. And if by the end of the day, this revenue is just more like, you know, transferred or used in paying debts and paying subsidy, what is left for the government for developmental projects and to run the government? None.

Let me tell you, if the president had not taken that action, people will say it was so prompt. But that was what the circumstances warranted at the point he took over. There was no money to run the country. Civil servants would not have been paid. Of course, you were hearing pockets of non-payment of salary and all those stuff. Are you still hearing it? Because there is enough to run the system.

From the savings as a result of removal of subsidies. You can hear about, were you hearing about commissioning of major projects before now? In the last administration and the subsequent one, major projects can be started now and funded fully and commissioned within a time frame. Major projects. That’s why you can talk about legacy projects. And these developmental projects, infrastructures, is the engine block of the economy that drives the economy. In every facet of the government, it’s well-funded. Starting from the local government. Local government received about four times the money they were receiving before. The state received about five times the fund they were receiving before.

Is there any area the Nigeria citizens are expected to contribute in national development?

Like when there is food insecurity, it was so critical. But the way Nigerians are the ones sabotaging it. We should be able to produce enough food for the nation. But Nigerians, we are packing this food away and sending it to neighboring countries. Is it not selfishness? We are taking advantage of our porous borders, specially when they say there is no rice, the cost of this. But you see trailers lining up across the border, along the borderline, taking it away.

Even when government will pump money to subsidize some of these food items, you see these market people, you know, procuring these items at subsidized price and storing it, waiting for the rainy day. Therefore, denying the masses that privilege, that wonderful policies from government for them to benefit. They pack it, some take it away, some store it, and create artificial scarcity just to skyrocket the price.

That’s why I said everybody has a role to play. They create artificial scarcity. And prices of items that ordinarily should be low will equally jump up because it’s the forces of demand and supply that determine price. That is part of it. Everybody is involved in this. All we need to do is to assist Mr. President in the wonderful policies he has done.

Nigerians have been waiting for the new tax regime. What is the update?

Tax and tax amendment. All these are geared towards improving the economy of the country. Block the leakages, stop double taxation, and put together, have a unitary taxation, tax system that works. And I believe we’ve been able to handle it at National Assembly, waiting for his assent. I believe Nigerians will be happy when this new tax system is fully implemented. Everybody will be happy.

Down to the grassroots, where you see the poor market women taking their produce to market. There are so many people collecting different taxes. These things will be stopped. And poor farmers can enjoy the proceeds from their farm without paying everything to the tax collectors. The system will be sanitized. It’s one of the policies of the government, geared towards rejuvenating the economy of this country.

You said earlier that subsidy removal has made available enough funds. What have these funds translated to?

Look at the legacy project, the coastal road, the train system, railway system. There is enough money now to fund this critical project that can, you know, trigger the economy to put it on path of progress. If you check the federal budget from 2024 appropriation act to this 2025, you will see the fund, before now these systems are not being funded.

And how can the system work without good transportation system? How can you move goods from one point to the other? Without good railway system, good road network system, and all these things. You can’t, you know, underestimate the importance of this critical infrastructure. Mr. President is funding those areas now, and projects are being completed in those regards.

You could imagine the number of projects that we have selected for him to commission at his two years in office, from Ministry of Works, even at FCT. That’s the commissioning now. If you enter Abuja today, you will be proud to be a Nigerian.

You have traveled around the world. You will now see that there is not much difference between what you see at the western world, compared to Nigeria now, especially starting from the FCT federal capital territory. But that is at least the face of the country. You can be proud to be a Nigerian. You give it to the FCT minister. He has done well in his appointment, I mean Mr. President.

Putting the right people, it shows this is a man that wants to work. Not just political patronage. Putting the right peg in the right hole. The right people that knows the job. It involves critical thinking to be able to assess, to assemble a workable team, a team that can deliver. The appointment of the FCT minister and the Minister of Works is top-notch. We give it to him. And they are going to transform, contribute so much in transforming the economy of this country. There is no part of this country that you will go without seeing massive infrastructural development, especially on the road.

The roads have been abandoned for years. And we are not funded. Have been funded. we have in southeast, the southwest, the one in the rivers, we went for an oversight there. Southeast region road, there is what they call that road, that crisscrosses across the whole Niger Delta down to Lagos. East-West road. If you go to that road, you will be proud of what is going on there. We’ve gone there for an oversight. See the kind of technology that is being deployed. Because that is a very difficult terrain to construct a road at this rate.

The supervisor is serious. Where you see rigid pavement being constructed with 20mm rod. And it doesn’t mean it stretches 100km. Those roads are built to last. Give it to them. They are built to last. Forget about people who are more interested in criticizing the government. We should always be in a position to encourage the government. We are not getting it right. Not a road that after building, before the contractor pulls out of the site, starts developing potholes. It’s a thing of the past. I don’t think in the administration of Mr. President, you will see such roads. Because the people who are placed at the saddle of leadership in those areas are people who know the job. And they mean well for the country. That’s why they can’t compromise.

We celebrated June 12 to mark Nigeria’s democracy. De we really have anything to celebrate?

We have not really gotten there. But even the democracy we are copying, it can’t have a perfect democracy. In America, you could imagine what happened between Trump and Biden in the last election before he came back when Biden defeated him.

There were a lot of allegations of rigging. There were a lot of allegations of misappropriation of funds and people storming into Congress houses. Destroying government property. And even some of them were sent to prison until Trump came the other day to grant them a national pardon.

What is he telling you? There is no perfect system yet. You just continue working and improving on the system. You learn from your mistakes, you improve. And that is the part Nigeria is today. Our democracy is growing. What you get yesterday is not what you get today. And you can see a lot of policies that have been introduced in the system to make it work better. To make the democracy more stable. And sustainable.

These days we can talk about card readers. Those things were not there. You do electronic accreditation. You find out it has eliminated some of the anomalies involved during the election. You cannot even carry and snatch ballot box to somewhere and all that stuff.Who is collecting it? The card reader? Having accredited human beings? That is a wonderful technology that can be improved upon. And it will help our democracy.

You made mention of June 12. Just like what I told you about where we are coming from. Let’s not be quick to forget our background. That we just came from a military era. We had a series of coups. And trying to have a credible election. There has to be a lot of trials and errors.

And the demise of the issue of June 12 is one of those unfortunate issues that took place in the process of trying to rebuild our democracy. Even those that are main actors. I can just oppose that with the recent release from the former president of the country, Ibrahim Babangida. What he wrote in his book. If you read his book. People have happened to pass through that book. You see the problem of this country. But he cannot even tell you why June 12 was annulled. Cannot convincingly say, look at why June 12 was annulled.

Even some of the people that were being blamed before, after reading his book, will now say, oh, so these people are free. Even most of the accused. So we take June 12 as part of the process you have to pass through to achieve a more sustainable and stable democracy. So we are on path of progress in terms of our democracy.

Can you say Nigeria Senate has fared well?

I can only speak of 10th Senate. Which I belong. And I will tell you, 10th Senate is tagged a corrective Senate. That’s what 10th Senate. 10th Senate came on the platform of renewed hope. Renewing the hope of Nigerians. And in doing so, it is to correct, look back. See those areas who have done it wrong. And try to amend.

And have a better system. Most people will always jump to conclusion to say we don’t fight with the executive. It is not the duty of lawmakers. Our job is to make laws. And checkmate the executive. Oversight them. That’s our constitutional mandate. Ensure appropriate funds. Ensure that those funds are being judiciously utilized to the benefit of the masses whom we represent. And that we have done very well. You listen to the Senate President’s speech yesterday. You will hear the number of bills we have been able to, within two years, get on and produce.

And the number that has been assented to by Mr. President. The problem is that if the system is on the path of progress, you don’t just start quarreling. You don’t just quarrel. There should be that synergy. We are encouraging the executive to do theright thing. And if the executive is doing the right thing, there is no way to start quarreling. But that is what some people want. Why quarrel? We now have an assessment that the President has not breached any law.

He is respecting the separation of power. By passing all his bills to the National Assembly for us to do our legislative functions. By having effective communication with the National Assembly. Following the Constitution of the Federal Republic and doing all what he is doing. We have not found him wanting in any place. In any areas we need to advise, we advise and he adheres to it.

He listens. Why do we disagree? And we are part of this. We study his policies and he is following his policies judiciously. And we feel and encourage that with this policy well implemented, it will take us to the expected end. Why must we scuttle it? Why must we scuttle it? You can see what happened in this tax bill he brought. How many months now? Because we are deliberating on that tax.

Amending those areas that we should amend. I did not say we should just pass it verbatim. A lot of work has been done on that tax bill. People are reading and researching, burning the candle every night. You people may not know the enormity of the work that legislators do. It’s not jamborees as you people think.It’s made of a collection of intellectuals. You can’t even stand up to talk if you are not sure of yourself because you are being faced by the whole world. You are speaking.For you to even make any contribution, talk less of presenting a bill, you need to read and read and read and make a research. And come up with a bill. It’s not easy to make a law.

You look at the pros and cons of that law, you want to throw forward. That will guide the administration of this country. So it’s not just what you come up, you wake up, you just come up with a motion of bill. And that is why there’s a lot, even when you come up with the bill, there’s a lot of scrutiny to the bill. And most of the time the bill will be killed if it is found not to serve the interest of the public. The National Assembly is doing an excellent job.

By the time the tax bill will come out, assented by Mr. President, I believe every Nigerian will be happy with that bill. Because we have been able to analyze it, we have been able to drill, subject it to all sorts of tests and remove those areas we feel may not go well with Nigerians. And add areas we think we can improve on it.And the President gave us free hand to do that. He didn’t stop us. So why must we quarrel? Why must we disagree? This should be more like a teamwork.

We need to contribute our quota by supporting the executive to deliver on their mandate. So the National Assembly has done very well in terms of our constitutional duty. We have passed many bills, the number, I cannot give you, but it is contained in Mr. President’s speech yesterday, the President of the Senate. He read all of them out. No National Assembly tenurenhas been able to achieve what we have achieved within two years. Been in National Assembly, none. It’s on record there. None have passed the number of bills we have passed within two years. None.

Let’s come back home. You are a senator representing Central. How do you feel being a representative?

Number one is that I’m the choice of the people. The masses on their own chose me without any prompting. I was called to come and serve.

And that’s why my time and my administration is different from other politicians. Other politicians go for it. Mine is that I was called. And for them to make all that decision to call me to come and serve them, represent them. They must have seen some qualities in me. They must have watched me from afar.nAnd now believe that this is the man they need to represent them. And that assignment we graciously accepted to represent my people. And we’re prepared before we step into that big show. Some in National Assembly they call me jinx breaker.