Ebonyi State Governor, Enrg. Dave Umahi has said that lawmakers should be given a three-term tenure limit to save the cost of educating new entrants into the National Assembly on legislative processes.
He also suggested an age limit of 70 years for lawmakers in the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly.
The governor made the suggestions during an interview on Sunrise Daily, a breakfast show on Channels Television, on Wednesday.
Umahi, who’s also a Senator-elect representing Ebonyi East Senatorial District in the 10th National Assembly, addressed the issue of the cost of training legislators, saying the tenures of legislators should also be fixed, especially when they have not performed to the satisfaction of their constituents.
He argued that legislators that were not returned by their constituents were those who had not brought change to their communities in their time of service, hence the suggestion of a fixed tenure.
He said: “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 strongly suggest that the tenures of legislators should be fixed, and there should also be 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 served as a retirement home for governors, stating that “The National Assembly is not a retirement home for governors. It’s a place where they want to put the experiences they acquired over the years in the governance of their states to move the nation forward”.
