By SIMON EBEGBULEM

BENIN – FORMER Chairman, House Committee on Power and House of Representatives member-elect for Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency of Delta State, Mr Ndudi Elumelu, yesterday, stressed the need to have a leadership of the National Assembly that will be very cooperative with the Presidency to assist President Goodluck Jonathan urgently fix the power problem and achieve accelerated economic growth for the nation.

Elumelu, who commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and President Jonathan for the smooth conduct of the just-concluded general elections, said the President must be given all he needed to achieve the laudable projects he outlined during his campaign.

Speaking to Vanguard at Benin Airport, Elumelu, who is being tipped for the position of Majority  Leader of the House of Representatives, said  “the President needs a team of understanding National Assembly members who will take the mantle of leadership by way of Principal officers that will ensure that they will not be hostile to his agenda in the next phase of his transformation drive. So, we need principal officers that will not be hostile to the presidency.

“We want to see where we can partner with the executive and ensure that Nigerians benefit because at the end of the day, all we want to ensure is that the average Nigerian feels the impact of our being in government.

“So I will say that whatever success the President can achieve will be based on the ability of the National Assembly to support his agenda for the next phase. So I hope the crop of people that will lead the National Assembly will be people that will have the mind of the Nigerian people at heart.

“ Once that is taken care of, then every other thing will take its shape. On the issue of electricity, what we need do is to support the President in his drive to solve the power problem. Then all we can do is to assist him ensure that  all the power stations that are being built are completed on time.”