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Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila met yesterday in All Progressives Congress (APC) government’s quest to foster common interest between the executive and legislature.
The meeting, which held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja and Gbajabiamila’s first official visit since his election on June 11 and the beginning of the ninth National Assembly, was aimed at confronting the challenges facing the country through cohesion of both arms of government.
Fielding questions from State House Correspondents after their closed door, which lasted for about one hour, Gbajabiamila said the focus was to address how the executive and legislature could collaborate to make life better for all Nigerians.
He said: “The executive and the legislature can collaborate to make life better for Nigeria and Nigerians. It wasn’t a personal meeting. You can call it a hybrid between the personal and official but it’s mostly official.”
Gbajabiamila explained that any meeting with the Vice President was relevant since it borders on the economy and how to move the country forward, adding that they charted a road map on how best to confront the problems currently facing the country.
On what Nigerians may see differently from his leadership in the ninth Assembly, he said: “Stay tuned, you’ve heard my inaugural speech, we are going to do things differently, we are going to build on the achievements of the Eight Assembly, and it’s going to be a reformed house.
“As I have said, the reform will be fished out in piece meal so as not to shock the system. But they will be reforms that will be for the benefit of the country. We expect the cooperation of all facets of government, including the executive and you- the journalists and our constituents.”
On whether he will carry the opposition members along in appointing heads of committees, Gbajabiamila said: “The committees would be unfolded in the next few weeks and you will see how we intend to carry everybody along. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag now, but you can be assured that they would be carried along.”