As the 8th National Assembly marks its first year in office today, the Senate president, Dr Bukola Saraki, has said that reviving the economy and establishing strong institutions remain the main objectives of the lawmakers in the federal parliament. The Senate president made this comment in an interview with journalists in Abuja as part of activities marking the event.

He said, "The issue of the economy has always been top of our agenda. Of course, we all know that 90 per cent of government revenue comes from oil and we are all aware that the price of oil has plummeted to about $30. We are aware that we are a mono product economy and, of course, the high rate of unemployment."

How would you describe your experience in the last one year?

I give thanks to our creator for giving me the opportunity because whatever you say is an honour and opportunity. Whatever you say is an honour opportunity given by God which is not bestowed on many, I am always grateful for that opportunity. It always reminds me of when I was the governor of Kwara State, I was counting the day when the job will end and be able to say I did a lot. I don't want to end the job regretting not achieving some things. So, I am always focused on what needs to be done. I believe this is been a new challenge. Out of respect friends would say I would not be able to unseat a seating governor, they would say I am endangering my life that I should go and rest.

It has happened with the commitment of Nigerians, so, I feel that one is carrying on his shoulders a lot of responsibility. I know what people sacrificed in making this happened, so, I believe that that motivates one to see that we must make a different. And I asked every single day that what did we do to make a difference? I expected these challenges when one is trying to make a change especially in the legislative arm because Nigerians are used to the executive and judiciary. The youngest arm of government is the legislator and the one that people don't understand the most is the legislator. People tend to see it as not connecting to their daily lives. That makes it more challenging. I am very hopeful that by the time we will be done we won't see them.

Can this kind of senate propel Nigerians to embrace the change we are aspiring?

I believe so. I have followed the activities of the national assemblies, I believe that where we are now and the groups of senators we have are very focused, patriotic and committed to Nigerians. Very patriotic because this is the first time we have a senate that is much divided where the majority is very slim. You can't really compare it to previous senate. With the kind of skewed majority, everyday should be very chaotic.

Anytime we are discussing national issues in the last one year; issues that to do with the economy, senators that come there are senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not senators of APC or PDP. When there are issues right from the ministerial screening to budget, they have also behaved they are senators of Nigeria because the legislative arm is all based on processes. Sometimes, the substance might be good. It is just like the judiciary that when you missed the process, it'' out. But the senators have shown a lot of maturity, patriotism and support and you will not know that it is such a slim majority. I am very happy because without that support, majority of the issues we want to discuss on reform of this country cannot happen without senators coming together and thinking of Nigeria first to make a solution.

I am very happy and honoured by the support they are giving me. I am confident that as we move ahead we will continue to see major issues that should be controversial and discussed on party line. For instance, the supplementary budget wouldn't have passed if the senators want to go on party lines. Despite a lot of distractions, you will see in the work that has been done in the last one year that it is the senate that has the road map. We are not just coming to the senate to jump from one issue to another, but we are focusing largely on the economy; how do we address issues that would make Nigeria a better place, create jobs for our people, make Nigeria investment friendly and improve the economy.

If you look at some of the things we tackle, there is a clear pathway and this is different than before. Some of the issues that people are not ready to touch in the past; we are opening up the senate to public participation. We are not afraid that it will come with criticism but we have come to terms that we will open it up to take whatever criticism if it is all in the interest of making the country better.

I don't know if the senate has ever had this kind of openness where people have access to what is happening in the senate. It is because the senators wants it and believe in that agenda. if I don't have those kind of colleagues to work with, we would not do some of the things we are doing.

In what ways through your legislative agenda in the senate are you trying to help us find a direction out of the dungeon we find ourselves?

The issue of the economy has always been on the top of our agenda. Of course we all know that 90 percent of government revenue comes from oil and we are all aware that the price of oil has plummeted to about 28 t0 30. We are aware that we are a mono product economy and of course the high rate of unemployment. So, it is clear to us that in order to address these issues, we cannot continue to depend on oil but diversify in agriculture and minerals. But you have to understand that these sectors are not just sectors you can go there and expect result so soon. These are sectors that need five to ten years in order to see result. So, in those kinds of sectors, what will bring about the reform sometimes is not the policy because people who invest in some of these sectors are skeptical of some of these policies.

The major is that what kind of laws do you have that support those sectors. For instance, you talk about agriculture diversification and you don't have any law that is clear that shows that there is a move to promote either commercial agriculture or provide credit to farmers, nobody is going to invest in this kind of sectors. So, we are beginning to addressing some of these areas; the agriculture side, we are doing it. If you look at the economy side, one of the bill before us which we hope will soon pass the two chambers is the public procurement bill. We saw earlier on that we must do something to stimulate the economy. We said to ourselves that the country spends in its budget a lot of money close to two trillions which is been used to buy things from outside the country. So, that two trillion is helping other people's economy rather than our own.

What stops government stop government from making a concerted effort to see whether they can find the goods in Nigeria. If there is no law to support that, ministries and parastatals will operate differently to this regards. But there is a law well written and backed up, it will encourage entrepreneurs to produce the goods locally. In America, such law is called, 'buy America and other countries like China still has it. And I said, if this is the law we would pass, the impact on our economy would be enormous because money will be going into the manufacturing sector to stimulate it.

Initially you might talk about standards, but in two to three years the standard will improve greatly. For instance, when furniture was banned in this country, a lot of industries sprang up. We are going to challenge the executive to respect those laws when we pass them. In the public procurement act that we are passing, we are reducing the number of this for all the bidding process because sometimes I am sure you would observe that even after we have passed the budget, before they award contract, screen, advertise etc, it takes sometimes a lot of time we have cut down some of the days to shorting the time so that money would come to the system. So, if the money stays in the Central Bank for another three to four months, the economy will not move. We are trying to cut that down as well.

Also, we have done something on the advance payment. Before now it was 15 percent, we have given flexibility. These are the laws that make the different. In infrastructure deficit, we talk about power, road and railway. There is no government that can fund all these, impossible. If you are waiting for government to fund all these, it is not going to happen because government does not have money to fund all these and I don't think government is trying to tell you it has the money, and without infrastructure we cannot move the economy forward.

The answer is to have the enabling environment that allows private sector to participate in these sectors. On roads, we are ensuring that some of the laws enable better maintenance of highways and better participation on roads. It is the law that would allow the private sector to participate immensely. All we are trying to do is to provide the enabling environment for private participation in all these different sectors so that we can create job opportunities.

How can you assure Nigerians that 2016 budget is going to be different?

What we have done is as much as possible is to ensure that the budget is similar to what is presented by the executive and I will give them no excuse to say that we are not familiar with the budget and it is not in line with our policies. We are bent backwards and in a way even given up some powers we have as the legislative arm as part of the support that this is the government that has come on change and its own manifesto and as much as possible work with the government and work with what they want.

So, there is no excuse on the part of the legislative arm. The issues of public procurement that we are amending will fast track the process by which the budget will be implemented. We have said that we are going to every naira and kobo to see that those monies are spent in line with the law that has been passed. And I can assure you that we would do that to make sure that all the agencies and ministries implement the budget fully.

In saying that, we have to be realistic and also see what the executive are going to do with the challenges they have because definitely, they are challenges they will have because nobody anticipated the disruption we are having in the Niger Delta. The budget was based on 2.2million barrels and now 1.6, but again that is temporary. Government must show ability to restore peace in the Niger Delta area to ensure that the production goes back to 2.2million barrels. Our own party is to ensure that every release is made to the agencies in line with the law. We will hold them accountable when we realize the money is not there.

To what extent has your appearances in the court affected your effectiveness in the senate?

It is a distraction of course. That slowed us down a little bit. There are a lot of hours we were losing when we go to court and I have to do that to clear my name as soon as possible so that we can move forward. It was ill-conceived by those that thought of it as at that time. It has not deterred us because we were able to address and push along our own agenda. It is something that after the case is over, the senate will look into how to strengthen the judiciary to ensure that political battles that are lost in the political arena do not find themselves to the judicial arena. It is not good for the system.

Sometimes you hear people use the word corruption trial but when you actually look at the issue, the best you could call it is administrative misdemeanor. When we start to paint the fight against corruption and people begin not to be sure whether it is corruption or politics, we do more harm to the fight against corruption. The fight against corruption should be very transparent. I still believe that we are doing much better than previously. I am confident that at the end of our time we would have make a lot of great marks and taken the National assembly to a higher height than we met it.

Is the senate likely to concour with the CCT amendment?

We have not seen the details yet, but when they pass it, they will send it to us to look at and see what they are doing.

How do you think that peace can be restored in Niger Delta?

The National Assembly will play their role to bring about peace in the Niger Delta. We have this kind of problem before and we have been able to fight it during President Yar'Adua's administration and we have been able to find a solution that brought peace in the Niger Delta. I remember then I was the chairman of governors' forum and I know the roles we played at that time to ensure that Yar'Adua government worked towards the amnesty program to bring peace in the Niger Delta. There is a need for us to put all hands on deck and bring peace to the Niger Delta, we have done it before.

We will also play our own role to bring about that peace. It is a priority and I don't believe that no price is too high for peace. Every situation has a solution; there is an amnesty already in place, whatever the issues are we must find the solution.