The Chairman, Senate Committee on local content, Senator Teslim Folarin, on Monday assured that the present National Assembly would work assiduously and stick to the January to December period life span for the budget if the Appropriation bill is presented early to the two chambers.
Folarin who spoke with journalists in Ibadan, also said the Senate under the leadership of Senator Ahmad Lawan, is worried about the level of insecurity in the country and would do everything possible to address the country’s security architecture.
The former Senate Leader said as soon as the 2020 Appropriation Bill is presented to the National Assembly, the Senate would begin work on it immediately, stating that it would be passed before the Senate goes on Christmas recess.
Folarin said, “The Senate President has continued to say that the present Senate would work for the people and it is in this direction that the National Assembly owe Nigerians a duty to pass the 2020 Appropriation Bill before we go on Christmas recess as the executive has promised to send it before the end of this month.”
He added that both the executive and the National Assembly would work together to ease the burden on the masses by creating enabling environment for small and medium businesses, saying that he is optimistic that after the completion of the Mambila hydro power plant, the issue of epileptic power supply would be a thing of the past.
Speaking on insecurity, Folarin said something is wrong somewhere considering the fact that during the electioneering process, there was no single attack from herdsmen or other bandits but immediately after the election, the attack surfaced again.
According to him, “The issue of insecurity is a serious concern to all of us at the National Assembly, basically it would paralyse the economy as well causing loss of life and property, thus, it is a top priority on our agenda.
“I want to say here that something is wrong somewhere, we could recall that during the electioneering process, there was no single attack from anywhere but immediately after the election, the attack resurfaced again. I will appeal to all necessary quarters as the situation calls for investigation and anyone found wanting should be brought to book.
“What we would do at the National Assembly is to provide enabling environment by making funds available to all security agencies.
”The 8th National Assembly convened security Summit, and what we would do is to avoid repetition, we would just dust their report and carry out all that is necessary and expected of us.”
