Senator Ben Bruce (Bayelsa East) Friday, said he would propose a meeting between the Senate and President Muhammadu Buhari anytime next week.

In an interview with Vanguard on the State of the Nation, Mr Bruce decried the developmental lag in the last two years, saying that the country was presently in a big trouble.

He said, “Nigeria has not really made any progress in the last 2 years. I think we are in big trouble right now. When the President gets back, we would need to sit down with him and have a conversation. There is no point having a conversation with anybody who is not a president.

“I am thinking the Senate. We will have a conversation. A bipartisan team will go and meet with Mr. President and have a conversation with him. Not APC senators meeting the president but the Senate meeting him and have a conversation on the future of Nigeria. That’s what I am gonna propose. That we sit down with him and discuss the issues. He’s the president and you can’t change that and I respect constitutional authority. He is the President of Nigeria and we will sit down with him and discuss the problems facing the country. In 2019 when there is another president, that will no another issue. But right now, he is the president and we need to sit down with him and discuss the issues. I understand he will be here next week.

“Let’s talk to the President directly. I think it is important to speak with President Buhari.”

On the issues to confront the President with, the Senator said, “All the issues affecting the country. This is my proposal. I am going to sit down with the Senate President and say, look, let’s sit down with the President. He’s not an APC President. He’s president of Nigeria. So, I don’t want say APC governors, senators seeing him. He should see Nigeria not APC. This is what I am going to request, hopefully, it will be granted and we are gonna have a conversation.

“Everything agitates my mind. The economy is in trouble, there is inflation, unemployment, schools, every year, a million kids cannot go to school. Automobile policy of Nigeria is 1922 policy. Mass transit policy is 1825. Our educational policy is 1942 policy. Are you kidding? We are in the stone age. These are not caused by him. I don’t want to accuse anybody but previous government did a lousy job. You have a educational policy set up by the colonial masters, have you changed that? Do you have a policy on Power, Health? Name one rich man who does not send his child, or himself to be treated abroad. You spend millions of Naira in Ghana every year on education. You have the health stories in India. So, what is going right? That has to be dealt with. We need to discuss it. I am not a critic, not here to run down anybody but I have a solution to our problem”, he said.

Speaking on the performance of N-Power scheme, Bruce who is also a business magnate likened the scheme to a waste of financial resources.

“When you spent 75 percent of your budget on current expenditure, I have a bill coming up which will limit expenditure by 50 percent by law and it will pass. You have DGs flying first class. You have people traveling all over the world to have meetings. Why can’t you have meetings in Nigeria? I saw the budget. Do you know the waste in the budget? If you run Nigeria as private company, you will fire 75 percent of people who run the country. Go and see the budget, it is total waste and this has been going on for a long time. It has nothing to do with APC”, he said.

Omoleye Omoruyi

Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram