Dave Umahi, the Governor of Ebony State, said senators and members of the House of Representatives should be given 12-year fixed terms to save on the cost of training new lawmakers on the legislative process.
He also proposed raising the age limit for members of the Senate and House of Representatives to 70.
The governor made the suggestion Wednesday during an interview with Channel TV’s breakfast program Sunrise Daily.
Senator-elect Umahi, who represents the Ebony East Senate constituency in the 10th Congress, addressed the issue of the cost of training legislators.
He argued that the members of the National Assembly should also have set terms, especially if they did not do their job to the satisfaction of the electorate.
According to the Governor, “The tenures of the executives are fixed, the tenures of the legislators are not fixed. And you have to ask yourself, have we really benefited by not fixing the tenures of legislators?
“You have to be able to show that they (constituents) are part of that government by allowing projects, even the projects of the Federal Government. It could be done in the name of the Federal Government by that legislator that is representing that constituency. And when they don’t see anything, that’s how they vote for another person. And you know our country, they love change, they love change so much. But there is nobody that is perfect in the ways of doing things.
“But I will suggest strongly that the tenures of legislators should be fixed, and there should be also age limits for legislators. You can give them three tenures, three tenures of four years. An age limit of 70 years will be good.”
Umahi also disagreed with the notion that the National Assembly serves as a retirement home for governors, arguing that, “It’s a place that they want to put the experiences they acquired over the years in the governance of their states to move the nation forward.”
cc: Punch Ng
