December 2020 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 4 Rubber-stamp? No! Interdependence? Yes! PROGRESSIVE OF THE MONTH FEATURE SPECIAL FOCUS Umahi onboard the Faces of progressives Yahaya Bello’s progressives’ train giant strides First Edition Second Edition Third Edition Fourth Edition From the Editor-in-Chief Hello, Progressives he National Assembly has been unusually peaceful, and it appears most Nigerians are taking it for granted. We could not have forgotten the customary topsy-turvy relationship between the Executive and T legislative arms. It used to be a norm for the two arms to be at loggerhead at the expense of the public good. For nearly two decades, Nigeria's democracy has been postmarked by counterproductive OFFICIAL MONTHLY JOURNAL OF THE APC/PGF posturing between the Presidency and the lawmakers, even when the October - November 2020 majority of them are from the same governing party who ought to be prosecuting the same manifesto. This has gone on for so long that many Nigerians believe it was the ideal. And the ideal, which is what we have witnessed since the 9th National Assembly Editor-in-Chief was inaugurated, is erroneously considered to be a misnomer. LANRE ISSA-ONILU Our cover story in this edition cannot be more apt. The Progressives Team brings you a Editor thought-provoking interview of the cerebral and dexterous President of the Senate, Mr. EDEGBE ODEMWINGIE Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan. He provided a comprehensive appraisal of the great activities of Production Editor the 9th Senate. The 9th Senate faces accusation of being a rubber-stamp for the REMI ADELOWO Executive for choosing to work for the public good while maintaining its turf. Readers will find answers to many of the general questions about Nigeria's quest for economic General Editor growth, social order, and political stability in this exciting interview. IFEOLUWA ADULOJU Nigeria slipped into a second recession recently at a time the country is bracing up to Online Editors the heavyweight of dwindling resources occasioned by the drastic and prolonged drop in PHILIP OBIN TITILOPE ANIFOWOSHE the prices of crude oil, Nigeria's leading source of revenue. The managers of the Nigerian economy have good reasons to ask the rest of us not to lose sleep. The right hands are Production Assistant using the right set of policies to ensure Nigeria is out of the recession as early as the end AKEEM OLATUNJI ISSA of the first quarter of 2021. How the President Buhari administration intends to achieve this can be found in the edition. Contributors (Photo) BAYO OMOBORIOWO The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has continued to AYO ADEAGBO make a massive difference with outstanding initiatives. The latest on his plate is the police reform policy he is spearheading. The Speaker's formula for transforming the Photography IBRAHIM ZUBAIR Nigeria Police has all the essential trappings for success. ALEX OSUAGWU We have also brought to you the numerous policies and programmes of the APC Secretariat government that are targeted at the Nigerian youths. More than any government in RACHAEL UDENNA history, President Buhari-led government is doing a lot for the youths. We provide EKANEM EKWUEME snapshots of the various youth-focused programmes in this edition. Contributing Editors You would come face to face with some of the patriotic Nigerians working for the good YEKINI NABENA of this country in what we called, Faces of Progressives. Our first set of the Nigerian MAMMAN MUHAMMED OLA AWONIYI patriots is presented to you. The Caretaker Committee of our party is putting structures YOMI ODUNUGA for enduring stability in place. We bring the piece by piece building block into focus. HARUNA ABDULLAHI HARUSPICE And the usual! The Far-reaching efforts of our governors in all the APC governing states Design by are presented in addition to a comprehensive focus on Kogi State under the AYOOLA AGBAJE indefatigable Governor Yahaya Bello. The giant strides of the man known as the White AFEEZ ODESEYE Lion from the confluence state are presented with pictorial illustrations. This edition also welcomes the new entrant, Editorial Board LAI MUHAMMED Governor David Umahi, into the fold of the Progressives as the FEMI ADESINA Nigerian patriots in the South East find their ways back into GARBA SHEHU the national politics where they truly belong. LAOLU AKANDE ABIKE DABIRI This edition is unputdownable. We invite you to enjoy it. SALIHU LUKMAN EDITORIAL DISCLAIMER All materials is copyright and all rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced Lanre Issa-Onilu without permission of the copyright holder. Editor-in-Chief If you wish to write us or respond, send to our email: or call 08023906773, 08034096563 The Progressives | 03 COFFICIAL MONTHLoY JOURNAL OFn THE APC/PGF tenDectember 2020 06 INTERVIEW Executive/Legislature: Fighting won’t 12 serve Nigeria’s interest 12 FEATURE How Nigeria will exit recession early 16 FEATURE How Buhari is empowering youths 18 SPECIAL FOCUS Yahaya Bello’s giant strides 27 46 LEGISLATIVE VOYAGE Police Reform Bill: The Gbajabiamila Initiative 30 PROGRESSIVE GOVERNORS 39 PROGRESSIVE OF THE MONTH Umahi onboard the progressives’ train 40 FEATURE 39 Faces of Progressives 46 PARTY CABINET Piece by piece, a step at a time 06 04 | The Progressives President Buhari, Senate President endorse The Progressives Magazine President Muhammadu Buhari Gov. Mohammed Badaru Abubakar Gov. Mai Mala Buni Gov. Atiku Bagudu Gov. Buni Senate President, Ahmad Lawan COVER Executive/Legislature: Fighting won’t serve Nigeria’s Interest 06 | The Progressives COVER n less than two years of his emergence as the Senate I President, Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan has, unarguably, brought a fresh vista of vibrancy and purposefulness to Nigeria's legislative business. In this interview with The Progressives team, he speaks on the Senate’s scorecard under his watch, the successes of the APC-led government and other national issues How would you assess the performance of the Senate under your leadership thus far? I would wish someone else would assess the Senate rather than me, because it is only logical that one cannot be a judge in his own case. First of all, it is only reasonable that I start by thanking Almighty God for giving us the opportunity to serve in this current 9th Senate. Secondly, I want to thank our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of this party (APC) for making sure that we remain focused and are able to deliver the successes we have recorded as a government since the 2019 general elections. Thirdly, I want to thank my colleagues in the APC caucus, who voted for me to be the Senate President and also equally voted for our party's candidate as the Deputy President of the Senate. And of course because this is a bipartisan Senate, I want to thank my colleagues from the opposition parties. When we came in, in 2019, there were about 44 PDP senators and one senator from the Young Progressives Party (YPP). I got 79 votes in the election to become the Senate President, which clearly shows I received a bipartisan support. And I promised at that time that we are going to run the Senate in a very bipartisan fashion, that Nigeria would also be of utmost concern to us and that in everything we do, Nigeria's interest would remain paramount regardless of our political platforms. And to a very significant extent, we have remained focused; we have not wavered. From 2019 to date, we have experienced calm; we have experienced focus; we have experienced purposefulness, commitment and the sustained desire to work with the Executive arm of government to ensure that we are able to, together, work for Nigerians. Nigerians voted for us, because they were optimistic that working together, we can bring relief to their lives. That has not come without a price. Some people understand an active legislature to be one that is always fighting with the Executive arm of government. That is a matter of perception. You may fight and not deliver anything. You may not fight, protect your turf and still be able to provide what the citizens want. And that is the path we have chosen to follow; that we would work with the Executive arm of government in a very purposeful manner and in the process, would not in anyway compromise our independence. I'm using the word 'independence' very cautiously, because I believe there is too much interdependence between the two arms of government than independence, which is an extreme word in a democracy like ours which runs a presidential system of government. The Progressives | 07 COVER Each side needs one another and therefore, there has to be an government processes, because in most cases, you would need those interdependence relationship. We have achieved quite a lot, but the most governing boards, councils and management boards to be in place for memorable and significant was when we promised to change the budget cycle efficiency and for effectiveness in governance. from January to December. For a long time in the National Assembly, it was difficult to pass the budget before the end of December. Consequently, the So, what we have been doing is to ensure that nominees who are implementation of the budget had always been very low. Hardly did we qualified, competent and gone through all the processes like security achieve a budget of 50 percent implementation during that period. But, we checks and others, are passed, confirmed and Mr. President appoints passed the 2020 Budget before the end of December last year and by the them. But that is not to say we confirm all names brought before us. grace of God, this was an outcome and output of a determined legislature and Recently, we confirmed the nominees for the board of PENCOM and we a determined executive arm of government to work together to ensure that had cause not to confirm one of the nominees, because we felt that there the budget was passed before the end of December and for the new budget was something that is missing.