Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila on Tuesday said he would not sign the 2021 budget if the appropriation bill does not make provision for families of victims of SARS brutality.
Speaking during the House’s plenary, the Speaker said the police were not above the law and that they must be accountable to the people.
He said, “I will not sign off on a 2021 budget that does not have adequate provisions to compensate those who have suffered violence from police in the last decade.”
“I will not sign off on a budget that does not meet the reasonable demands of the ASUU, to which Government has already acceded. There is no better time to rethink the system of funding for higher education in Nigeria. The current system does a great disservice to our children and our country, and we must commit to changing it so that we can free our institutions of higher learning to be citadels where innovation thrives, and excellence is a given.”
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” The House of Representatives will pass an Electoral Reform Bill in time for the next general elections so that we may continue to improve the process of electing our political representatives at all levels.
“I will support the amendment of the constitution to ensure that the provisions on fundamental human rights have teeth, resource control is dealt with equitably and that the next generation of Nigerians does not inherit evident dysfunctions of our current system.”
He said he would be leading a delegation of lawmakers to pay condolence visits to families of some of those killed by the police, stressing that they would be honoured after the visits.
According to him, the National Assembly would establish a system of citizen-led accountability for the Nigerian Police Force because in a democracy the nation sets out to build, the police were not above the citizenry.
Gbajabiamila added that the police were servants of the people and not above the law, but guardians, saying that as the government endeavoured to hold the nation’s police to higher standards of professional conducts, they must also make sure they provided for the welfare of the men and women in uniform.
He appealed to #EndSARS protesters to be cautious in handling the matter, saying that they should not let their righteous cause be hijacked and brought the nation to its kneels, saying that this was the time to move their agitation from the streets
” You have raised your voices and marched to demand a better Nigeria. From Abuja to Washington, to Calgary and London, your voices have been heard. Do not allow anybody to convince you that to withdraw from the streets now is to concede defeat.
” This is the time to move your agitation from the chaos of the streets to the painstaking deliberations and strategic partnerships that birth policy and produce legislation.”
” It is time to mobilise your voices in support of specific policy interventions that will deliver on our shared objectives of national renewal and a country that reflects the best of us. I thank you, your country thanks you, and history will be kind to you.”
