ANEEJ Hails House of Reps Legislative Agenda

PRESS RELEASE

ANEEJ HAILS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

Abuja—-The Seventh Session of the House of Representatives (HoR) (2011 – 2015) yesterday released a Legislative Agenda that spells out main areas of focus. They include: strengthening the operations of the House, underlying principles, as well as constitutional review, bolstering the economy among other priority areas.

The Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor while welcoming the  bold  step  of the  House  in electing its new leadership  congratulates  the  new  leaders  for      conducting  a  transparent internal election as  a  against  the traditional  process which has led to the novel legislative agenda released to the public.

“We welcome the core underlying principles of the Seventh Session of the House of Representatives as it rightly initiates a new order that would foster transparency leading to institutional integrity through efficiency of public expenditure management. This in our view will bring about probity, transparency and accountability in the conduct of the business of government.” Ugolor said.

The ANEEJ helmsman equally welcomed the planned Institutionalization of mechanisms to strengthen engagement with Civil Society Organisation Liaison Office that will facilitate more effective engagement with various stakeholders including constituents and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).

More importantly, ANEEJ is very much at home with the planned overhauling of legislative process to achieve quick passage of bills and ensure strict compliance with time frames.

“We are enthused with the prioritization of the Petroleum Industry Bill by the Seventh Session of the House of Representatives    which  clearly demonstrates  their  commitment  to  speedy reform  of the oil and  gas  sector. The PIB Campaign  members  including ANEEJ will  work  with the  House of Reps. and  the  Senate and  other  stakeholders  to  ensure  that  the PIB is  quickly passed so that  the current  uncertainty  in the  sector  is  swiftly   addressed  to  signal  to both  Nigerians  and  the international  community  that the  President  Goodluck Jonathan’s  transformation  agenda  is  real and will not be business  as  usual.”  Rev. David Ugolor stated.

“We are quite delighted that the House of Representatives recognized the fact that it has to pursue an aggressive legislative agenda to reposition itself as a key branch of government able and determined to deliver on the key elements of governance as bad governance remains the major obstacle towards Nigeria’s development,” adds Mr. Leo Atakpu, Deputy Executive Director of ANEEJ.

Atakpu urged the House of Representatives to proceed swiftly with its plan to navigate the difficult terrain of winning public trust and confidence and even of being the champion of the peoples’ cause” as originally designed by the founders of democracy.

For more information Contact: Mrs. Mary Uwa Igharo (maryuwa@aneej.org)