Lawrence Olaoye 
President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, has said that the relationship between the National Assembly and the Presidency was beyond any of the appointees of the executive and cannot be scuttled by a little disagreement between the lawmakers and a minister.
Lawan stated this yesterday while fielding questions from newsmen after he emerged from a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Apparently referring to the recent faceoff between the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN) and members of the National Assembly over the Special Public Works Programme, Lawan said the parliament was committed to promoting cordial relationship between both arms of government. Lawan disclosed that he and some of his colleagues were at the Presidential Villa to see Buhari as part of the routine consultations on issues of governance. “We have come to see Mr. President on behalf of the members of the National Assembly and this is supposed to be a continuous engagement between the Legislature and the Executive arm of government.
“I think the relationship between this National Assembly and the Executive arm of government, particularly the President, is beyond one employee of the President,” he said. It could be recalled that the Special Public Works programme had pitched the Legislature against the Executive as they could not agree on the modalities for the employment of 774,000 persons across the country. While the lawmakers insisted that the exercise be suspended until Keyamo could satisfactorily carry them along, the President asked the minister to ignore the order and go ahead with the recruitment process. Although Lawan did not disclose if he discussed the standoff with the President, he said the NASS under his watch will continue to do all within its powers to enhance the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature and ensure that they work together. “Both the Legislature and the Executive must, at all times, work in the interest of the people of this country.
We cannot afford not to do this because essentially, government is for people to have service and the essence of this particular visit is to ensure that the Legislature, the National Assembly and the Executive arm of government, led by Mr. President, continue to work together to ensure that the relationship that we have, which has been working for this administration to deliver services to Nigerians, is sustained. “I believe the outcome of this meeting is going to improve the relationship between the two arms of government.
I imagine that at the end of the day, the trajectory of ensuring very good and purposeful operational way of doing things between the two arms will continue. “We have had a very good engagement with Mr. President. Mr. President has always respected the Legislature; he has always commended the National Assembly members for always being there to ensure that the requests by the Executive, in the national interest, are processed and we are sure that every member of the National Assembly has always been there to ensure that we do the right thing for this country. Mr. President is in full support of our position that this relationship must be sustained at all times for the benefit of the people of Nigeria.”
