For Bukola Saraki, President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the celebrations of his one year in office and the first anniversary of the inauguration of the eight Senate of the Fourth Republic on Tuesday, was an opportunity to bare his mind on the state of the nation.
He did, asking President Muhammadu Buhari to run a more inclusive government that would give every Nigerian a sense of belonging and the opportunity to help solve the monumental challenges facing the nation.
“There is no other time in our history than now when the business of government needs to be conducted with great inclusiveness,” he said in a lengthy address to his colleagues in the hallow chambers of the Senate, adding: “We must find a way to bring the best brains in our country on board wherever they may be found.”
Pointing out to the President that the challenges facing the nation required a bipartisan approach, which might mean going outside the All Progressives Congress (APC) fold to source for resource persons, Saraki said: “Even those who did not vote for us but believe in the change that we all believe are necessary to move our country forward should be given a seat at the table.”
According to him, “If we are able to mobilise the best human resources that God has bountifully blessed our country with, I have no doubt that with God on our side, we shall overcome.”
In perhaps the most telling introspective assessment of the APC-led federal government’s performance in the last one year, Saraki regretted that the nation’s leadership had failed to adopt policies meant to draw a productive economic roadmap for the nation.
He said: “We have failed to take the necessary steps in policies and legislation that would set us on the path to developing the kind of economy that we desire.”
He said the drastic fall in the global price of crude oil made it important for the government to put on its thinking cap with a view to promoting investments in other sectors.
“The collapse in oil price has without doubt brought huge shock to our economy on a scale that perhaps, has never been experienced before. This requires us to develop creative strategies that would stimulate business and investments into other sectors,” he said.
Saraki implored the Niger Delta militants to sheathe their swords as he charged the warring militants to respect the nation’s democratic institutions and channel their grievances through appropriate quarters, noting that the nation could ill afford further damage to the ecosystem of the region.
He asked the federal government to adopt dialogue and engagement as a more lasting option towards resolving the violence in the region.
He appealed to leaders in the area to play their part and mediate in the face-off between the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and the government.
Saraki said in view of the recent poor rating of the country by a foreign agency, the Senate had taken measures to review 54 extant laws in order to open up the economy for investment.
“The Ease of Doing Business Report that ranks our country 167 out of 189 countries is not likely to attract business into our economy. This Senate understands this. With the support from our international development partners and the organised private sector, we commissioned an expert report which identified 54 extant laws that must be reviewed and brought in line with international best practices in order to open up our economy for private investments and business,” he said.
He enumerated other activities of the Senate in the last one year, listing the bills passed by the eight Senate.
According to him, “This legislative intervention yielded about 15 major economic reform bills and seven business environment bills. Some of these bills have since entered the dockets of the Senate and are at various stages of consideration as some also have been passed by the Senate. Chief among those passed include: the Electronic Transaction Bill 2015; Debt Recovery and Insolvency Bill 2015; and the Railway Bill which is being considered through the final lap. All these bills represent a watershed in economic and business legislation in our country.
“The Electronic Transaction Bill 2015 for example, will be the first legal framework ever in our country that provides the legal foundation for electronic signatures and guarantees predictability in contracts made electronically. Once signed into law, this bill will offer full protections to contracts entered into via emails, and transactions conducted with online shops, electronic commerce and services platforms, which are currently not provided for in our laws. Another obvious benefit of this bill is, it will reduce the cost of doing business by eliminating transportation and other logistics cost. By passing this bill, the Senate has given legitimacy and local application to the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, which was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 23rd November 2005 (the UN Convention).
“Another important bill that has emerged from our Ease of Doing Business intervention is the Bankruptcy & Insolvency Repeal and Amendment Bill 2015. These are the super structure on which a 21st century Nigerian economy must be built on. Nigeria has been ranked very low in dealing with corporate insolvency due to the multiple, costly and unwieldy resolution framework under the old 1979 Act. Aside from removing the clogs in the process of transiting insolvency to administration, this new bill guarantees that the process becomes even more efficient, less exhausting and result oriented.
The primary objective of this bill is to shift the paradigm of business administration from focusing on penalising failures to encouraging credit and entrepreneurship. This is one bill that has the potential to transform the Nigerian financial landscape by enabling consistent supply of credit; attracting new capital and expertise into business revival; improving creditor recoveries and lowering the cost of credit.”
