In the early 90s, a fresh wave of liberalism and populist democracy swept through the western world as and antidote to the previous decodes domination by the conservative ideology of Reaganism and Thatcherism that led to the rise in inequality ratios with the rich amassing more wealth while the poor witnessed ever greater marginalisation and pauperisation, With right wing capitalism running amok and unrestrained, it was up to a new generation of centre left political leaders to take up the gauntlet in order to usher in much needed reversal of the conservative and reactionary old order. The progenitors of the new liberalism consisted of political redoubts like President Bill Clinton (USA), Prime Minister Tony Blair (Britain), Chancellor Gerhard Schroder (Germany), Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (Canada), Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi (India), and other like minded statesmen who managed to steer international politics away from the crass materialism and rampant capitalism of the Reagan/Thatcher dominated late 70s and 80s decade.In the early 21st century, specifically 2011, a similar wave of revolutionary liberalism swept through the nation particularly the apex legislative body, the National Assembly as a budding generation of young, articulate, dynamic and forward looking federal legislators were inaugurated with a far reaching mandate to shake up the pre-existing establishment and usher in a brave new world of credible representation, effective legislation and responsive ovesighting of the nations vast MDA bureaucracy. The ardent proponents of this fresh wave making new legislative world order included Hons Aliyu Gebi, Hon Yakubu Dogara, Bassey Ewa Eko, Sani Legbo Kutigi, Ibrahim Tukur El-Sudi, Shehu Bawa, Ifeanyi Ugwunyi, Uche Ekwunife, Haruna Manu, Chris Azubogu, amongst others Rather than toeing the line of the allassuming Executive, one of the first tasks of the 7th House was the launching of several high profile probes of executive agencies with a view to unearthing waste, mismanagement and corrupt practices prevalent therein.In fact, this dedicated corps of federal legislators were variously referred to as the New Age Democrats, the Young Turks and the Best and the Brightest because they displayed uncommon sincerity of thought, clarity of action and firmness of purpose in the discharge of their legislative functions and duties. The numerous public hearings, probes and investigative hearings conducted including the Fuel Subsidy probe, the probe of the Collapse of the Capital Market Sector and the probe of the Incidence of Collapsed Buildings were a sure sign that it was no longer business as usual, but business unusual according to Hon Aliyu Gebi who insisted that Nigerians must support the ongoing probes by the 7th House: Nigerians should have 100% faith in probes. Remember that our duty as legislators is to make laws and perform oversight functions to the best of our ability. First of all, people did not believe there was going to be any fuel subsidy probe and we held the probe. Secondly they did not believe that any report will come out of the probe but the report came out exactly as we expected and we debated the report, put it together again and submitted it to the presidency. Now it is left for the executive to implement the probe report and it is up to Nigerians citizens to ensure that the probe report is implemented. I emphasize Nigerian citizens because we are no longer subjects ruled by an emperor or king, we are citizens ruled by a president duly elected by the citizens of this country.One of the contentious issues that was tackled by the fastidious New Age Democrats involved the lack of proper or adequate implementation of the budget by the Executive and a perceptive Hon Aliyu Gebi who is now the Senior Special Assistant to the Honourable Minister of Interior resolutely held forth in 2012: I would not say that there has been remarkable improvement, but there has been some improvement in budget implementation and this is the much one can ask from a very stagnant system. The fact that we (legislators) raised certain red flags and the executive for the very first time listened and started implementing certain changes is a good sign not only for the relationship between the National Assembly and the Executive but also the between the leaders of the country and the followership.Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara who is now the Speaker of the House of Representatives was one of the new Age Democrats that over saw the probe of the Incidence of Collapsed Building and the Pigmentation and Segmentation of Cement in 2013 and after a holistic investigative hearing that involved major stakeholders in the construction industry including the Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria, Nigeria Association of Builders, Dangote, BUA, Lafarage Cement companies etc, the Adhoc Committee was able to make far reaching recommendations that it is hoped will go a long way in curbing the recurring incidence of collapsed buildings throughout the nation. On the performance of the 7th House of Representatives, Hon Aliyu Gebi, a New Age Democrat par excellence was emphatic that the august body had fully discharged its mandate to the letter: On a scale of one to ten, I will rate this assembly, eleven and a half and this is not because I am part of it. If we have not achieved what we set out to achieve, I will be one of the assemblys loudest critics. Again this validates our decision to independently choose the best out of the officers because if you give people the right to choose on a level playing field, they will choose the best of the best and that is what we have done. That alone is something that has never happened in the history of our nationOlabisi Olajide, A Parliamentary Affairs Expert Sent In This Piece From Ikeja Lagos
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