Commentary: Choosing Effective Law Makers In Anambra State

WRITTEN BY HON. TIMOTHY IFEDIORANMA

The last lap of the 2019 general election in Nigeria will take place on Saturday next week with the governorship and state houses of assembly election. The first in the process was the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 23, 2019 across the country. The next election is very crucial in every state as it a determinant factor to the peace, progress, security and development of that state. The election is to decide those that can peacefully work with the governors to ensure continued provision of democracy dividends to the masses.

For avoidance of doubt, legislators or lawmakers are members of the legislative branch of government, which is responsible for making new laws and changing existing ones based on their constituents’ needs.  Apart from the fact that law makers are elected to represent certain geographical areas and constituents which make them a link between Government and the people, they actually enable society develop and prosper by the quality of laws that they make and their closeness to other arms of government such as the executive and judiciary.

For the fraudulent politicians promising heaven on earth, it must be made very clear to our electorate that it is not the role of legislators to execute policies, build roads, hospitals or schools, but the kind of laws they make and the good rapport they have with other arms such as the executive can enable the quick and efficient delivery of those services and prosper society at large.

Legislative work is therefore a career, nurtured by experience, passion to serve the common and public good rather than a desire to prosper individual interest. It is an important duty that deserves time, knowledge, attention and dedication. To work well, government requires a bond of trust between citizens and their representatives.

Legislators are also educators and communicators, who enlighten their constituents about Government policies and communicate progress of programmes. A good law maker attracts enormous goodies to his or her constituents from the executive, including jobs, infrastructural development and other welfare packages to the people. That is why it is necessary for Ndi Anambra to elect, next week, those that can effectively and efficiently work with the working governor without rancour for the continued delivery of democracy dividends to Ndi Anambra. It would be recalled that the last time the state had majority of the law makers in the opposition political party, different from that of the Governor of the state, it was like cat and mouse relationship. It was so rowdy and cantankerous that the people bore the brunt because when two elephants fight, the grasses suffer.

It was also within that period that a governor was illegally impeached, simply because the governor was not in the same political camp with the law makers. Thus, it is pertinent that this time around, Ndi Anambra should not give room to rancour, bad blood, bickering, political crises, instability and cantankerous relationship between the executive and legislative arms of government. This has dealt a big blow to the state and once bitten, twice shy.

Ndi Anambra should therefore vote massively for APGA candidates in next week’s election to continue to saviour prompt payment of workers’ salaries and pensions, massive road and bridge construction, street lights, security of lives and property, improvement in agriculture, the Cargo Airport project and community choose your project initiative among others. 

The twenty million naira given to the one hundred and eighty-one communities every year by the state government is on its third stage now. It is being copied by other state governments and has enabled all the communities to execute people-oriented projects and provided jobs to their citizens.

The wonderful aspect of the scheme is that the communities choose the projects of their choice, engage indigenous contractors and sundry workers in the project. This singular policy of the Obiano administration has prompted many communities to construct markets, civic centres, town halls, libraries, roads, bridges, culverts among others.  Above all, today, Anambra state has remained the best in the education sector in the country as manifested in her foremost positions in academic competitions in Nigeria and beyond, among many other firsts, courtesy of the clement weather provided by the lawmakers and their cordial relationship with the executive.

Ndi Anambra, Anya Saanu, the seventh Assembly needs those that will help Governor Willie Obiano build the state, not those that will destroy it. Let us not allow affliction to rise the second time in Anambra.