…..population is a problem today in Nigeria
Senator Neda Imasuen Senator representing Edo South, Senatorial District and Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics privileges of public petition says the ongoindefections by members of political parties to APC will not lead to one party system.
He was speaking in his office in Abuja while answering questions from journalists.
The Senator explained that defection is not a crime that the constitution still recognizes the freedom of movement and association, and no political party has the right to deny membership of its party, and so anyone who gravitates towards any political party is free to do so.
“I don’t even believe that the movement as we see today, will lead to what they call a one party state. No, there was a time that PDP ran this country, where almost all the Governors were PDP. It wasn’t seen as a one party State at the time. It’s seen as such now because people are moving to a particular party. No, it’s not. Don’t also forget, as a party in government, and what do you expect of a government, party in government, I mean, it’s, it’s more stable.
“And so when there is instability in those other parties, as you can witness today, PDP is going through its own problems. Labor party is also struggling, I don’t believe there’s a platform for any labor candidate to run on today, because the party is so decimated in such a level that you’ll be taking the risk of your life if you want to think you want to run on that platform, because you seem not to exist.
“And so what would you expect? So I don’t see it as as a drift to one party’s nation or state. It’s not going to happen.
On various Bills that are trending in the Senate he said he will continue to support a good bill and not any bad bill. Because he believed it is for the interest of the people.
“Every Senator has the privilege to propose a bill, as a matter of fact, that is why he’s here. And so you cannot strike down a bill of a Senator just because you believe that is overwhelming, or believe that many of such bills have been passed. You cannot. You can’t deny me that privilege. Neither can you deny my colleagues such privileges. And so they will come.
“The issue is whether or not the budget is enough to sustain it. That’s where I’m going. So, if the budget cannot sustain.But it’s if it’s not funded, because there’s no money to fund it. There’s nothing anyone can do about it.
“if it’s a good bill, everybody will support it. So for me, it’s a matter of running the country. Well, where we find ourselves today in this country is such that we all need to work together.
He also used the opportunity to speak on the Journey of the 10th Senate, “so far is been up and down. It’s been rough.
“The beginning of this administration, If you remember, it came on the heels of difficult economic turbulence, the economy was bad, was in bad shape. And I hate to say that the past eight administration before it actually did nothing, that’s my assessment of it. And so they drove the nation to the ground.
“And so for a new administration to lift it up is a weight that will take every one of us to help lift up. And so difficult and tough decisions are to be made, and it’s been made by this present administration, my administration, for us, for the President, Ahmed Tinubu, his courage, like I always say, he’s courageous enough to face certain issues that his predecessors didn’t want to touch at all, and look at the issue of of the VAT issue, the way he handled it, even though some segment of the country said they won’t support him because of that, But some other President will drop it because of that, but he saw the nation and put it above his own self interest, and said, regardless of that, he pushed through it, and we’re happy that he did.
“I’m also hoping that to face the issue of population, because populations is a problem today in Nigeria, because we don’t even know who are Nigerians, and we don’t even know how many of us exist. And so it’s not going to help for economic planning or even for social planning.
“We don’t know how many people are entitled to these resources, so we need to know so that we can plan better. And so if he’s able to do that, I know he would do it.
End
