BY HENRY UMORU & INALEGWU SHAIBU
ABUJA—Senate President, David Mark, yesterday reflected on the many problems facing the nation and asked the Head of the Economic Team of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to stop chasing shadows.

Senator Mark in his welcome address to the Senate after an eight-week recess, observed that Nigeria needs healing to come out of the web of crisis that has engulfed the nation in recent time.

He also advised the Economic Team, which includes the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and others to come up with robust economic policies that would salvage the nation from its economic disasters.

Jonathan and Okonjo-Iweala

He said: “Those who manage the nation’s economy cannot afford to chase shadows while the economy is in the doldrums. What Nigerians expect, and deserve, is the introduction of fiscal and monetary policies that will create jobs, fix healthcare and infrastructure, and stimulate the economy.”

The Senate President also expressed concern over poor budget performances, demanding that President Jonathan should submit the 2013 budget to the National Assembly early, for quick passage.

He lamented that poor budget implementation had led to a rise in poverty in the land, stressing that the National Assembly would be more stringent with oversight to ensure full implementation of 2013 budget.

Quick submission of 2013 budget

He said: “We return to plenary session to commence a scrupulous consideration of the 2013 budget estimates, once it is presented. It is, therefore, important that the Executive presents the budget early to afford us sufficient time to consider and debate it exhaustively before we can pass it.

“And our goal would be to pass it before the end of the year. When passed and signed into law, we will insist on full implementation. Over the years, our national budgets have raised hopes for a better life. Such hopes have remained largely unrealized.

“The Senate will activate and deploy its weapon of oversight to meticulously monitor the implementation of the budget. We have felt the pulse of the people, and the condition under which they live has rekindled our resolve to ensure that their living conditions are substantially improved as a reward for their faith in democracy.

“The war against poverty must therefore be an unrelenting one. Its ultimate objective should be total eradication of poverty, and not just poverty reduction. A nation as blessed as ours has no business with poverty.”

Insecurity and poverty

Mark also lamented the near collapse of security in Nigeria orchestrated by the Boko Haram sect that has led to wanton killing of many innocent citizens, describing it as an that is evil very alien to Nigeria.

According to him, “We return from our recess to meet a nation sorely in need of healing, a nation previously free from strife and anomie, but now convulsing from a genre of violence that we all thought was alien to our shores.

“A new but formidable evil has now combined with old and familiar perils to present our nation with perhaps the greatest challenge to its corporate existence since the civil war.

Senate President David Mark

“I urge you all, therefore, to prepare to take on the unprecedented challenges facing our nation. The times call for sacrifice and statesmanship, and for everyone to rise above narrow and parochial interests”.

Mark who also commented on the abysmal performance of Nigeria at the 2012 London Olympics and the general decline in sports, which he blamed on corruption, advocated mass sacking of sports administrators.

His words, “one issue that worries me deeply is the decline of our nation even in areas in which we once excelled. The reasons for this decline are not far-fetched. Corruption, sloppiness and tardiness in preparations, mismanagement, degradation and lack of maintenance and vandalization of national assets, absence of rigour and thoroughness in planning – these, and more, are the reasons for the rot.

Wants sport administrators  sacked

“Perhaps, no singular event reflects our current attitude to things, and exemplifies our decline, as the fiasco of Nigeria’s participation at the recently concluded 2012 London Summer Olympics. You will recall that our contingent failed to win a single medal in the games. Our fortunes are even more dismal in football, which is a national pastime, and a great unifying factor.

“This should not surprise you, after all, the National Stadium, Abuja, our supposed symbol of sporting excellence, was recently discovered to be decrepit, overtaken by weeds and reptiles”.

“What is surprising, and very worrisome, is that our psyche is beginning to accept this malady as normal. Ordinarily, such an appalling state of affairs ought to have been followed by voluntary resignations, or mass purges. But nobody has resigned, and nobody has been fired! Distinguished colleagues, there is no doubt that a drastic overhaul of our sports administration is long overdue.”