ABUJA – To urgently rescue Nigeria from
pangs of poverty and under development, the
Senator representing Bayelsa East in the
Nigerian Senate, Mr. Ben Bruce on Friday gave
hints of a possible high powered meeting
between the Senate and President Mohammadu
Buhari anytime next week upon his return to
Nigeria.
Senator Ben Bruce
Recall that President Buhari left the shore of
the country on May 7 for a follow-up on his
medical consultations.
Though, no specific date had been officially
given for the president’s return, speculation is
however, rife of his possible return next week.
Speaking to Vanguard on Friday on the State of
the Nation, Bruce who fumed at the
incremental hardship agreed to the feelings
that Nigeria has seriously lagged behind in its
developmental strides in the last two years,
saying that the country was momentarily in a
big trouble.
According him, a lot of public policies have
become antiquated and could not drive
Nigeria’s economy in a 21 century world.
He said: “Nigeria has not really made any
progress in the last 2 years. I think we are in
big trouble right now. When the President gets
back, we would need to sit down with him and
have a conversation. There is no point having a
conversation with anybody who is not a
president.
“I am thinking the Senate. We will have a
conversation. A bipartisan team will go and
meet with Mr. President and have a
conversation with him. Not APC senators
meeting the president but the Senate meeting
him and have a conversation on the future of
Nigeria. That’s what I am gonna propose. That
we sit down with him and discuss the issues.
He’s the president and you can’t change that
and I respect constitutional authority. He is the
President of Nigeria and we will sit down with
him and discuss the problems facing the
country. In 2019 when there is another
president, that will no another issue. But right
now, he is the president and we need to sit
down with him and discuss the issues. I
understand he will be here next week.
“Let’s talk to the President directly. I think it is
important to speak with the President Buhari.”
On the issues to confront the President with,
Senator Bruce said it was all encompassing.
“All the issues affecting the country. This is my
proposal. I am going to sit down with the
Senate President and say, look, let’s sit down
with the President. He’s not an APC President.
He’s president of Nigeria. So, I don’t want say
APC governors, senators seeing him. He should
see Nigeria not APC. This is what I am gonna
request, hopefully it will be granted and we are
gonna have a conversation.
“Everything agitates my mind. The economy is
in trouble, there is inflation, unemployment,
schools, every year, a million kids cannot go to
school. Automobile policy of Nigeria is 1922
policy. Mass transit policy is 1825. Our
educational policy is 1942 policy. Are you
kidding? We are in the stone age. These are
not caused by him. I don’t want to accuse
anybody but previous government did a lousy
job. You have a educational policy set up by
the colonial masters, have you changed that?
Do you have a policy on Power, Health? Name
one rich man who does not send his child, or
himself to be treated abroad. You spend
millions of Naira in Ghana every year on
education. You have the health stories in India.
So, what is going right? That has to be dealt
with. We need to discuss it. I am not a critic,
not here to run down anybody but I have a
solution to our problem”, he said.
The Senator who hails from oil rich Bayelsa
State in the Niger Delta region stated that the
zone is a time bomb waiting to explode.
He said that the agitations were becoming so
serious that an urgent dialogue between the
agitators and the federal government needed to
hold.
He said: “I think there should be a discussion.
The Niger Delta is heavily underdeveloped.
There is a lot of people to blame. In the past,
federal government, state government, NDDC,
everybody made a terrible mistake about Niger
Delta. Nobody is exempt. It do