Daily Trust - the online edition

Not few Nigerians agree to the dictum that the greatest challenge of the country is to formulate laws and ensure its enforcement for sustained development of the country. The people who are positioned to play this role are members of the National Assembly.

Speaking on the need to sustain the present tempo in legislative activities, Amange insists that the sixth National Assembly is committed to bringing democracy dividends to the people. The National Assembly, the senator continues, is in the vanguard of ensuring effective legislation of proper laws for the country.

Against allegations that the leadership of the Senate is not well focused due to what is often described as the present legal battle facing the president of the Senate, Senator David Mark, Amange who is the Vice Chairman, Home affairs and also committee member of Science and Technology, Capital Markets, National Identity Cards & Population, among others says the current legal battle over the election of the Senator Mark cannot constitute a problem for the country. The rules, according to the lawmaker, are all there for everyone to see and if a case is still in court, then we must be very careful not to allow sentiments take the best of us.

"The elections of the Senate President may be challenged in court but he is the President of the Senate. The appeal court is yet to deliver its ruling and I see no reason why this should constitute a problem. The leadership of the Senate is solid and members of the Senate are resolved to ensure that the upper chamber is not distracted by any issue," Amange who is a petroleum engineer noted.

But despite his efforts aimed at contributing to the legislative mandate imposed on him, Barigha-Amange is worried about the incessant clashes between military posted to Bayelsa and the indigenes of the state. He called for the immediate withdrawal of the army. According to the Senator, the army has denied the deployment of the army.

"As far as I can remember, at about May 1, 2006, just after the burial of the late King, the army came. From investigation, the army hierarchy had denied knowledge of sending the army in. Stories were that Dr Daukoru who wanted to be king by all means wanted the army to be there, another version was that they were sent in because of problem between Ogbolomabri and Basambri, the two neighbouring towns here. Another version is that they were sent in to protect oil installations."

"The military men have been there for 24 months and I have settled so many problems between the army and the youths, between the army and sometimes women. I used to call the commander and talk to him; he was quite friendly, understanding and seemed to be a core Christian, and I believe they must have changed him by now" Barigha-Amange recalled.

He said that only the use of dialogue and the need to invite all stakeholders in the Niger Delta region could assist in resolving the problems. He frowned at the use of force in resolving the problem, pointing out that even the United States expedition in Iraq has not yielded the much needed results in terms of restoring peace to the troubled region.

"They should move MOPOL or conventional police to stay. How do you leave the army there to continue to maltreat people? The Joint Committee set up by the Senate was to look at this issue and get back to them," the Senator said.

Barigha-Amange explained that dialogue is an indispensable tool in a democracy and called on Nigerians to resort to the use of dialogue to resolve all differences. For the lawmaker, the task of achieving the dream of quality laws for the country is not possible without being in touch with the people. He says that for any lawmaker to be effective, such must be in tunes with the dreams and objectives of the people who are represented.

"We have to be close to our constituency to appreciate the problems they are passing through. It is only when we are close to them that we are able to feel their pains and frustrations that we are able to make laws to address such pains and frustrations," Amange said.

He does not believe in leaving footprints only in Abuja. Much of the work, the Senator explained, is premised on understanding the problems of the people and trying to articulate same on the floor of the National Assembly for actions. He notes that for lawmaking to be effective, those for whom the law is being legislated should also be involved in the legislative process.

In a bid to improve the lives of his people, Amange says that he has embarked on a programme aimed at wooing school dropouts back to the classes. Apart from poverty which may lead to some of the kids dropping out of schools, the senator says he has evolved a programme in which he monitors the performance of these boys to ensure their educational career is not jeopardized.

Under my programme, "Rediscover Education Scheme" I realised that it is difficult for you to lead 10 illiterates than a 100 literates. So I have started from the grassroots, I started in 2002 on a low level but now it has gone up to a higher level. I pick 50 per local government because I have three LGAs in my constituency. I register the 50 as external candidates in various schools, they write their WAEC and NECO and luckily we have been scoring 70-75%.

"If you like put the certificate in your box, one day you would feel like going further. I want to tell you that we have gotten six graduates out of this exercise. About five of them are still in school. I told them, ‘you are following me for campaign and all sorts, whenever it’s time to appoint somebody they say, ‘bring your certificates, and you don’t have, so you want me to go and pick somebody else?’ They are all rushing, by August we would publish, by November the names are out, by December we go to the schools and we pay," the Senator recalled.

Barigha-Amange continues, "The second one is this micro credit scheme that I provide for women, we give them 50,000. We get their leaders and for the first batch, we made N10m available for 200 of them, N50, 000 each. It was the Vice President’s wife who did the presentation that year, two years ago, September 2006. The good news about it is that you don’t pay back to my purse, three months, the fourth month, you pay 10% and you pay to the women. I have nothing to do with that N10m. It is given but it is a revolving loan scheme for the women and they manage it. So every month they are able to get 5000 from the 200, which is one million which then goes to another 20 women. So every month they are growing, we started with 200; today we have 413 in Nembe. So because I have won the Senate seat, I have extended to all the three LGAs."

The lawmaker is also involved in providing succour to widows by providing them with a platform where they earn little stipend every month. He says he is considering extending the micro-credit loans to them to enable them establish businesses.

Looking at the challenges he currently faces as a lawmaker, Amange states he looks forward for making laws that would lead to the peaceful resolutions of all problems afflicting his people and the country. Describing the fortunes of the country as something that should be well guarded to provide opportunity to all Nigerians, Amange said that the Nigerians should expect the present Senate to do all in its power to provide enabling laws that can provide effective the country as the bastion of Africa’s hope.

On the prospects of democracy in Nigeria, the senator said that despite the problems which he described as little in Nigeria, the people should look forward to a bright future. He reiterated the determination of the National Assembly to put the country on a firm fitting.

"Democracy is just the best for the people. No man is good enough to govern others without their own acceptance. We may be experiencing little problems but I can assure that we shall get there," Amange said.

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Name:
E-mail
Title:
Comment:
Code:*
	I wish to be contacted by email regarding additional comments