HARDSHIP BITES HARDER: President Buhari, Others To Be Summoned By National Assembly

Strong indications have emerged that the leadership of the National Assembly might have agreed to invite President Muhammadu Buhari to address now that he has returned to the country.

It was learnt that the decision is the outcome of the meetings of Senate and House of Reps principal officers, hosted by Senate President Bukola Saraki at his private residence in the night.
A Senate principal officer, who pleaded anonymity, said the both chambers deliberated extensively on the current economic situation in the country and came up with some pragmatic solutions.

The source told The Punch that the meeting, held on Wednesday night, agreed that Buhari should first be invited to tell the federal parliamentarians the specific steps that his administration is taking to take Nigeria out of recession.

He said, “It was Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who led the House of Representatives’ team to the meeting, that suggested the idea and it was adopted by leaders of both chambers.

“The president was asked to come and brief us on the specific efforts he had taken with his economic team to tackle the recession.”

He added that some principal officers of the Senate also suggested that the National Assembly should ask the President to reshuffle his cabinet with a view to injecting new hands to come up with fresh ideas on how to save the nation’s economy from total collapse.

The lawmakers were said to have agreed to set up a committee to compile the recommendations of all the senators that spoke during last week’s debate on the economy and come up with a report.

Dogara was said to have assured the Senators that the House of Reps would support their position.

Another senators confirmed the move, saying: “It is true that President Buhari would be invited to address the joint session of the National Assembly on the economy. It would be an opportunity for him to get feedback from Nigerians because all of us are just coming from our constituencies and we know what our people are going through.”