Renowned Political Economist, Pat Utomi has lamented that the legislators in Nigeria are rubber stamped and are watching the country drift aimlessly.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Utomi made this statement soon after visiting the family of the late former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’abba, in Kano to offer condolences.
He pointed out that in contrast to the current generation of parliamentarians, Na’abba represented a time when politicians were independent.
According to him, “Late Na’abba represents for us a season in which we had an independent legislature that ensured that government policy could be aligned to service to the people.
Today we don’t have a legislature. I can say that without even batting an eyelid. We have rubber-stamp legislators who are watching the country drifting aimlessly and are not offering options. Honourable Ghali Na’Abba did offer that when he was the Speaker of the National Assembly.
We collaborated with him back in those days from civil society, from direct action, we stood by him to ensure that we have a working system. Many years afterwards as we saw the drift got worse, we thought that we needed to treat it the third way, a different way, right now it is going to be the second way because nothing else is left in the country. A country that is not working, run by politicians who just think about themselves and self-love. So what we have in our country today, can be called government of the worst by people who are consumed by self-love.”
