By Godwin Smith 

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has stated that he would be a floor member in the 10th session of the National Assembly which begins in June.

Gbajabiamila who was re-elected at recent National Assembly polls however promised to continue to contribute meaningfully to
law making and governance.

The speaker stated this while interacting with journalists covering the House in his office at the National Assembly complex Abuja.

He said: “As many of you know, I would probably be a floor member now, which is how our democracy works. But being a floor member is not about what position you occupy but it is about what you contribute to law making and governance and I will continue to do that irrespective of wherever I find myself.

“My colleagues have been very supportive. I have through no magic of mine but through the benevolence of God been able to hold the House together and hold my colleagues together, which in itself is a tall order if you follow the National Assembly over the years.

“Managing 359 other members is not an easy thing and I have always said that if you can be the Speaker of the Nigerian parliament you can thrive in any organisation anywhere in the world. God has been so good that together with my colleagues, one has been able to do that.

“My hope is that whoever comes in as the next Speaker would be able to continue in that trajectory and build on the foundations that we have laid for the institution and even do better.”

Gbajabiamila also said the 10th session of the National Assembly will perfect the Electoral Act 2022 to further deepen democracy in the country.

According to him, many Nigerians celebrated the new electoral law which is still not perfect yet but it will be perfected in the next Assembly.

Gbajabiamila further observed that the first round of the general election was all about ethnicity and religion instead of performance.

The Speaker regretted that the last National Assembly election was determined by factors beside the performance of lawmakers as evident in the high level of turn over of parliamentarians.

He said, “It was a hard won battle not just for me but for many of our colleagues on the floor there. All 360 of us. Many were unlucky. Some were lucky. I used the word ‘lucky’ deliberately because this election was not as it should be, not so much about the performance of members whether on the floor or in their constituencies.

“It was about a lot of other things. It was about religion. It was about ethnicity. It was about so many other things which I hope that as we develop as a nation, one’s election would be based solely, or at least mostly on his or her performance on the floor and in the constituency.

“That is why I fought tooth and nail to make sure the Electoral Act adopted strictly the direct mode for primaries because of elections. Even though at the general elections members lost, a lot of members actually lost their elections at the primaries, where their acceptance by the constituents was not put to test.

“What was put to test was what one or two leaders in their constituencies determined whether they were returning or not. So we lost a lot of legislators even at the primaries level, and that does not help our democracy.

“So hopefully moving forward, we would perfect that document, the Electoral Act, which many people have celebrated but still not perfect yet. Hopefully we would be able to perfect it.”