House of Representatives Speaker Dimeji Bankole is on tour of states to solicit and have their views on the 2008 Federal Budget currently under consideration in the National Assembly. Bravo! Never done before.
Late and probably not-yet-well-scripted, it never the less gives us hope. The legislators, if they were truly da people's reps and were actually up to/true to their mandates, should have had the needs and demands of their constituencies firmly in their pockets & portfolios before taking the oat of office, and as they discharge their onerous legislative duties each day.
Both from the first snippets and the subsequent evaluation hearings Budget 2008 has not cut a worthy image for the Yar'Adua administration. It is clearly a ritual civil service bureaucratic mishmash with the very usual PDP top-down political contraption, devoid of reality check and detached from the due process mantra of the president.
Whereas the speaker gets a hearing everywhere he's been, the ministers and bureaucrats are a sorry sight at House and Senate hearings! Keep the search on, Mr Speaker, da states need it!!
When you do not do ya homework, folks, ya budget goes bunkers! This year teaches great and telling lessons. As for da future, we wait.
