I NEVER CALLED FOR THE SCRAPPING OF THE SENATE -JKF

Our attention has been drawn to your news story of Thursday 10th October 2019, with the headline: “Fayemi wants Senate scrapped, Oronsaye report implemented.”

While the headline and the first paragraph, which are the writer’s own exposition, have stated as above, there is nowhere in the entire story where the reporter made allusion to the exact words used by Dr. John Kayode Fayemi in his address.

It is in the light of this that we regard the headline as presumptious of the governor’s intendment.

Dr. Fayemi spoke on Wednesday 9th October 2019 at one of the panel sessions on the sidelines of the 25th edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit with the theme, ‘Nigeria 2050: Shifting gears. The Panel focused on financing the future in the light of the nation’s dwindling resources, and Dr. Fayemi made copious reference to the report of the Oronsaye Committee, which proposed the reduction of the size of government to a manageable level and streamlining of the operations of its various organs for cost reduction and efficient service delivery.

Just like the committee had expressed the effect of the nation running a bogus bicameral legislation, the governor also did, but not in the light that it has been couched that he “wanted” the Senate “scrapped.”

Barring the financial implication of running a bicameral system of legislation, the Ekiti State governor is not unmindful of the advantages of a bicameral system, which include provision of checks and balances to prevent potential abuses of power, as well as minimisation of unnecessary changes in statutory regimes. He also appreciates the kind of constitutional hurdle such “scrapping” of the senate would need to cross, if at all, and would not have made such sweeping statement about the federation’s upper chamber.

We hope this would be adequately captured sir.

Signed:
Segun Dipe
Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications to Ekiti State Governor, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi.