Nigeria has made substantial progress in Democracy over 20 years - Lawan

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said, yesterday, that Nigeria had made significant progress over the last 20 years since the country’s return to democracy in 1999.

Lawan at the 17th edition of the Daily Trust Dialogue with the theme “Twenty Years of Democracy in Nigeria: Strengths, Weaknesses and Opportunities,” in Abuja, said: “Representation, appropriation and legislation are critical to good governance.”

Lawan, who was special guest of honour at the event and represented by Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi (APC, Niger North), noted: “These virtues are enshrined in a democratic setup, which we (Nigerians) have experienced in the last 20 years.”

Having a cursory look at Nigeria’s democratic journey so far, Lawan said: “Nigeria has made substantial progress on all counts, in the evolution of our nation, via the democratic dispensation. We have been steady, determined and forward-looking."

“We have developed it to the point where we can look no other way, other than the democratic way. What we now have to do as we have been doing in the National Assembly are ways of perfecting the system."

“The point has been severally made that there is no perfect democracy anywhere in the world, but the hallmark of a good democracy is the ability to develop its processes and procedures.”

Identifying the tools of democracy as the constitution, political parties and electioneering process, Lawan noted: “Any democracy that seeks to grow must ensure that these sectors work seamlessly. The legislature is in tune with this realisation and has set in motion machinery for the timely passage of the Electoral Reforms Amendment Bill and the Bill for the Amendment of the 1999 Constitution."

“We have proposed these bills for amendments, based on the limitations we realised from implementing them. “In reviewing them, therefore, the greater goal of service to fatherland, and the overall good of the people are our (National Assembly’s) guiding principles.”

Lawan who harped on the need to strengthen the country’s economy, said the National Assembly passed legislations towards increasing Nigeria’s revenue base in addition to ensuring appropriate application, however, identified some of the bills as the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act CAP D3 LFN 2004 (Amendment Bill, 2019), and the Finance Bill, 2019, which was passed on 21 November 2019, and amended seven existing tax and fiscal policy laws.

Others are the Public Procurement Act 2007 (Amendment) Bills, 2019 which, according to him, seeks to strengthen the operational capacity of the Procurement Act, as an important reform and anti-corruption initiative.