National Assembly not an elite club, Dogara tells members-elect

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara,
has advised elected members into the two chambers of the National
Assembly not to see their membership of the Ninth Assembly, when
inaugurated, as a form of induction into an elite club.

He said they should rather see themselves as mere ambassadors of
their different constituencies. He said they must not lose focus on
the job for which they had been elected, especially the challenges
of insecurity, unemployment and poverty.

A statement by his media office on Friday said the Speaker spoke
on Thursday night in Abuja at a dinner organised for the
members-elect as part of their induction exercise.

He added that the lawmakers-elect might become overwhelmed when
they assumed office, noting that their assignment was to make a
difference that would end the sufferings of Nigerians.

The statement quoted him as saying, “Let me remind us that very
soon, after this orientation programme, we will get the oath of
office into the chambers. And by that, we shouldn’t deceive
ourselves that we are getting inducted into an exclusive club of
some kind of elite in this country, but merely ambassadors of our
different constituencies, by extension, the nation Nigeria.

“We cannot afford to fail the people who sent us. The only thing
we require to make a difference is knowledge. Our parliament must
be knowledge-based. If we have no knowledge; we cannot do the work
or succeed in the task that is before us.”

“We cannot afford to go to sleep as elected representatives of
our people in this very challenging environment that our people
have found themselves, talking of insecurity or the challenge of
unemployment and under-employment.”