Dogara: I have hope that change will come

Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the federal house of representatives, is optimistic that the “change” promise of the federal government will be fulfilled.

Speaking at the weekend when he visited David Victor Folagbade Olateru-Olagbesi, the olowo of Owo Kingdom, in Ondo state, Dogara expressed hope of a better future for the country, but urged the people to support the government.

“As a government, we need support of the citizens to make life better for them. We realise that we need active participation of the people in the change agenda of the government,” he said.

“We are aware of what some people in some quarters are saying about the change promised by this government. Government can only provide the enabling environment. Now we have hope that change will definitely come because there is a clear departure from the past.

“Government alone cannot bring about the change we need. We need active support and participation of the citizen.There is nothing that is impossible.”

Highlighting the role of citizen participation in the change agenda, he noted that while government will provide the enabling environment for people’s businesses and other aspirations to prosper, the people must engage in wealth creation.

“When we talk about change, a lot of people are beginning to ask: when is the change coming? We know that all we can do as government is to provide enabling environment,” he continued.

“And no matter the question that is being asked, if you look at the set of people who are there today as leaders, we know that there is change because there is a clear departure from the past.

“But we know that it is impossible for government alone to bring about the needed change. Citizens themselves must determine that they want change and they want to change at their own individual level.

“We believe that with the support and participation of the citizens, there is nothing that cannot be achieved. There is nothing that we set our hearts to achieve that we cannot achieve as a people.

“The support of the traditional institution is important in sensitizing the citizens to not only support the government but to be the change they want to see and that is the way the society can change and we can restore back the greatness of this country.”

He noted that the national assembly is partnering with the executive to make the change agenda a reality, and not to clash with any arm of government.

“In some cases, people are asking why the legislature is quiet on some issues or why we are not fighting the executive.

“I want to underpin the fact that we don’t see our role or relationship as collision but supportive of whatever is there to achieve by the executive to lessen the burden of the people and improve their living conditions.

“We don’t adopt a posture just for the sake of proving that we have separate powers as allocated to us by the constitution; we cooperate more to ensure that good is delivered to the people.

“It is only when democracy is threatened that we raise our voices. And I remember we have been doing that in this government in how we handled the crisis in Kogi state house of assembly. It was actually an APC leader who led investigation into the matter and we condemned the impunity even as members of the ruling party. This is the change we are talking about.”