By Levinus Nwabughiogu-Abuja

Spokesman of the outgoing 9th House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu has pledged to bring about the true independence of the legislature if elected the speaker of the incoming 10th National Assembly.

Kalu who represents Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State made the pledge while formally declaring his ambition to run for the speaker of the incoming House in Abuja.

He said said: “Nigerians are looking for a Speaker that will increase what I call parliamentary sovereignty where the motions, the resolutions and independence of the arm of government would be showcased better than 9th assembly had struggled because 9th assembly has maintained its independence, then we need somebody that will take the bet and sustain that independence.

“Many people say rubber stamp but we have always consciously monitored the borderline in the way we sustain this free relationship with the executive., understanding the doctrine of separation of power, knowing the borderline between what is expected by the mandate of our arm of government constitutionally speaking and where the mandate of the executive starts.

“So, Nigerians are looking for parliamentary sovereignty, Nigerians are looking for the speaker that will increase institutional trust. You and I will agree that the coming of the legislature appears like a strange arm of government when Nigerians have been used to the military rule – the executive and the judiciary.

“The issue becomes who is that man that will increase the credibility, the capacity, the knowledge base legislative intervention that would gladden the hearts of nigerians to begin to understand that really this is the fulcrum of our democracy.

“The institutional trust is key in the minds of Nigerians and I’m a Nigerian as well so, I know what all of us are looking for. Who is coming to sustain what has been done by these builders who have started the building and had laid bricks and who would take it up from there?”

Kalu also promised to promote legislations that will give facelift to education, economy, economic growth, job creation, poverty reduction, insecurity and healthcare and environmental sustainability.

“It is a Speaker that is gender sensitive that will reopen that space and begin to see reasons what they did not pass though before the president and then begin to give it the sense of belonging.

“So, prioritizing education is what is in the mind of Nigerians. Laws around education, laws around the economy, economic growth, job creation, poverty reduction, insecurity and healthcare and environmental sustainability.

“These are some of the things that the speaker that is coming on board should be equipped to be able to deliver and I know Benjamin Okezie Kalu has been equipped to represent 369 members as the image maker of the house of representatives for 4 years and was no mean feat and we have discharged our responsibility creditably well, making sure that the image of the National Assembly where we met it was not lower than where we are leaving it, to climb to the next pedestal.

“We have tried our best to ensure that both at the constituency level, both at membership level, both the relationship between members and relations between arms of government and the vertical relationship with the executive, we have sustained that relationship and kept our image through public engagement we have always yearning listening to the of Nigerians as it pertains to transparency to be able to open up the space so that we can reduce the opaqueness in the activities of the of the House of Representatives,” he said.