President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said Nigerians have wrong perception regarding the workings of the legislative arm of government.
Buhari said this during the launch of the Green Chamber magazine, a publication of the house of representatives, in Abuja.
The president, who was represented by Lai Mohammed, minister of information, said the electorates are under the misconception that members of the national assembly are bunch of people who earn so much for doing little or nothing.
Buhari said such “wrong perception” of the legislative chamber is engendered by the lack of understanding of their works.
“Hitherto, the public perception of the national assembly is that of a bicameral legislature where overly comfortable and highly overpaid members merely stuff wads of currency notes into their pockets for little work done,” he said.
“This wrong perception has resulted partly from the lack of understanding of the enormous work of lawmakers, especially outside the glare of television cameras.”
He said such magazine would tackle misinformation and distortion of narratives, adding that it would become “authoritative source” of anything that goes on in the house.
“In addition, it will help the house to tell its own story, rather than relying on others to take charge of their narrative,” he added.
“It is said that no one can tell your story better than you. This magazine is long overdue. But like the saying goes, it’s better late than never.”
THE SEVERE EROSION OF TRUST
The senate president Ahmad Lawan, decried the lack of trust between the legislature and the public.
Lawan who was represented by his deputy, Ovie Omo-Agege, said such lack of trust was affecting development in the country.
“Over the years, we have seen great political discourse about the relationship between voters and parliamentarians. The Nigerian people have coercive doubt about how the National Assembly works.
“In the Ninth Assembly, which wants to achieve great results in governance, the severe erosion of trust in government has no doubt become a very big problem. It does appear that the lack of trust in governance is now becoming an obstacle to development.
“In other to move this country forward, and take the bold decision to solve the socio-economic problems facing our country and win back the trust of the electorate, we need cooperation from people of different political, ethnic and religious persuasions.
“To do that, we have to restore our faith in our democracy, and the best way to do this is to become more transparent with the Nigerian people. We need to create sources of information, dialogue, peaceful interactive debate, citizen participation and genuine participation in legislative work,” Lawan said.
WE ARE NOT OUT FOR PROPAGANDA
In his remarks, Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives,said the magazine is “not a propagandist outlet.”
“Our service to the people who elected us, is not enabled in any way by having at our beck and call, a media outfit that exists to massage our egos and tell us what we want to hear.
“Public service always benefits from being held to impartial account. Any public service conducted in secrecy is suspect.
“The vision for the Green Chamber Magazine is that through this platform, the 9th house of representatives may contribute to the enthronement of a journalistic tradition that is grounded in the ideals of honest reporting and focused on making real the old promise of open government.” he said