Ebonyi State governor Dave Umahi has suggested a maximum tenure of three terms of four years each for federal lawmakers.
Umahi also proposed an age limit for aspiring legislators.
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Speaking on Channels TV on Wednesday, May 17, the governor denied the allegation that former governors have turned the Senate to a retirement office since the return Nigeria to civil rule in 1999.
Umahi stressed that the high influx of former governors into Senate was because of the need for requisite experience to ensure robust lawmaking.
“The National Assembly is not a retirement home for governors. It’s a place that they want to put the experiences they acquired over the years in the governance of their states to move the nation forward.”
Umahi noted that the experience gathered by the governors who successfully won seats to the Senate would be banked on while enacting policies, laws and regulations.
“When governors have sat in the saddle for eight years, what type of experience do they not have? Mind you, as a governor you interface with the state house of assembly and by so doing, you understand what goes on there. There is no governor that does not have experience or that does not know what to do in the Senate. What experience do they not have?
“I hear people say the Senate is a retirement home, but that is not correct. It is a place for those former governors to put in the experiences they have garnered over the years.”
The governor argued that the lawmakers are not puppets despite the absence of healthy rivalry between the executive and the legislature.
“When people talk about rubber stamp, what they want is that the legislature should fight with the executive. But that should not be the case. Fighting will not help the nation. We have a common goal to reset the nation; that should make everybody think the same way – the progress of the country. We have to be engaging.”
Reacting to the issue of zoning of the leadership of the National Assembly and the fate of the South-East geo-political zone, Umahi noted that the late entrance of the zone in the leadership contest could have informed the perception.
He added that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is making progress on the incoming legislative zoning formula, adding that the national leadership of the party is having a robust engagement with concerned stakeholders.