Member representing the Oke-Igbo/Ile Oluji/Odigbo Federal Constituency of Ondo State in the House of Representatives, Hon. Festus Ayodele Adefiranye, has said the National Assembly is solely concerned with accountability in exercising its oversight function and not with accusing, intimidating, or witch-hunting anyone or institution invited for scrutiny.

Adefiranye made the clarification on Thursday at the National Assembly Complex while taking questions from journalists after receiving the Award of Most Outstanding Honourable in Constituency Project Delivery of the Year.

Responding to questions on the activities of the National Assembly, the federal lawmaker said oversight functions are carried out by senators and House members to monitor and ensure that monies appropriated are judiciously and truly expended for the purposes for which they are meant.

“I think it’s a wrong mindset to believe that anytime committees of the National Assembly invite respondents to give explanations on their activities, they’re doing so to bring accusations against them or intimidate them.

“The principal responsibility of members of the National Assembly is lawmaking, which includes oversight on all matters for which laws are made. It’s therefore only logical that lawmakers check on such subjects to ensure that what’s brought before the Assembly for attention is really executed as treated by it,” Adefiranye explained.

He also gave the current relationship between the executive and the legislature a pass mark, praising both the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate for how they have been managing the affairs of the legislative bodies to sustain peace and cooperation among members.

He argued that fighting with the executive is never a proof of bravery but merely playing to the gallery, with the consequence of slowing down development and delaying government processes.

According to him, if all the arms of government, the executive, legislature, and judiciary, engage in competition for supremacy, society cannot progress or prosper.

Responding to comments that many Nigerians see the 10th National Assembly as a rubber stamp to the executive, Adefiranye said people hold such opinions because they do not understand how government works.

Instead, he commended the leadership of the Assembly for how it has been tactically and skillfully navigating public pressure to foster a beneficial relationship with the executive, even at the risk of loss of respect.

He urged members of the public to assess governance by objectively considering all factors involved rather than by emotion, stating that the public stands to benefit more from an amiable but honest interdependence of the three arms of government.

The Ondo federal lawmaker also disclosed that he had sponsored four bills, two of which were for the establishment of a federal medical centre and an entrepreneurship university in communities within his constituency.

On why he prioritized the projects for which he won the award, he said it was because the projects themselves prioritize life.

He noted that the reconstruction being executed on the Ore-Ondo-Akure road was a result of his motion for it and that he is happy the rate of accidents and deaths has significantly reduced since the start of the project.

He promised to continue to leverage his legislative mandate to collaborate with the federal government on further development of his constituency.

Federal lawmakers don’t exercise oversight function to intimidate, witch-hunt – Rep Adefiranye