President of the Senate, HE, Distinguished Sen Godswill Obot Akpabio, GCON, has charged his colleagues at the Upper chamber of the National Assembly to brace up for a more committed National Parliament where legislations would be tailored toward the needs of the people of Nigeria.
The Senate President who was addressing the Red Chamber upon resumption after the Christmas and New Year break, also commended Nigerians for their perseverance in the face of various challenges.
Read below the Senate President’s full speech:
THE FINAL STRETCH: FINISHING THE WORK, HONOURING THE TRUST
Being my welcome address at the First 2026 Plenary Sitting after the Christmas and New Year Recess.
Distinguished Senators,
I warmly welcome you back to this hallowed Chamber as we resume plenary after the Christmas and New Year recess. I trust that the period enabled you to engage closely with your constituents—to listen to them, to hear their concerns afresh, and to reconnect with the human realities behind our legislative work.
I believe that you have returned better informed, more grounded, more focused, and more determined to serve them with greater effectiveness. I also hope you found time to rest with family and friends, and that you return refreshed, refocused, and ready for the demanding work ahead.
However, as we gather again as a family, our joy at resumption is tempered by sorrow. During the recess, death visited this Chamber and took from us one of our own—Distinguished Senator Godiya Akwashiki, who represented the good people of Nasarawa North Senatorial District. His passing is a profound loss—not only to his family and constituents, but to this institution and to our country.
Senator Akwashiki was a committed public servant who brought diligence, humility, and a deep sense of responsibility to his legislative duties. His voice, his presence, and his contributions will be deeply missed in this Chamber.
On behalf of the Senate, I extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, colleagues, and the people of Nasarawa North Senatorial District. We share in your grief, we honour his memory, and we pray that Almighty God grants his loved ones the strength and fortitude to bear this irreplaceable loss.
Distinguished colleagues, may we please rise for a minute of silence in his honour. May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace.
Distinguished colleagues, between the time we went on recess and today, our nation has continued its steady march—through economic pressures, security challenges, social demands, and the quiet resilience of our people.
Nigerians have endured, adapted, and persevered. They have not been silent; they have spoken through enterprise and an abiding belief that tomorrow can be better than today. Above all, they continue to call for leadership that listens, reforms that work, and a future that rewards effort, integrity, and honest labour.
Their expectations have not diminished; they have grown more urgent. As we return, we are mindful that events did not pause in our absence—and neither must our sense of duty.
In this regard, we commend the continued military collaboration between Nigeria and the United States in the fight against terrorism. Such partnerships reinforce our national security efforts and affirm that Nigeria stands with allies in confronting forces that threaten peace and stability.
At the same time, this Senate extends its deepest sympathies to the families who have lost sons and daughters to insecurity across our country. Their grief reminds us that security is not an abstract concept—it is about lives, homes, and futures that must be protected.
Distinguished colleagues, we must also respond with urgency to the warning by the United Nations that as many as 35 million Nigerians may face hunger this year. This sobering reality demands a doubling of effort—through legislation, oversight, and collaboration—to strengthen food security, protect the vulnerable, and ensure that no Nigerian is abandoned to despair.
As the political season gradually approaches, we call on all political parties and actors to be guided by conscience, civility, and patriotism. Nigeria’s unity and stability must never become casualties of ambition. Our democracy is best served when competition is principled, discourse is responsible, and the national interest remains paramount.
We also urge Nigerians to continue to remember in prayer our fellow citizens who remain in captivity within their own country. We must not forget them. Their continued captivity is a national wound, and their safe return remains both a moral duty and a collective hope.
Finally, we encourage Nigerians to continue to support the Renewed Hope Programme, believing that through perseverance, cooperation, and shared sacrifice, the promise of a more secure, productive, and compassionate Nigeria can yet be fully realised.
Distinguished colleagues, the Tenth Senate has now entered the final stretch of its legislative journey. With less than one year and five months remaining in this cycle, we are no longer merely settling into pace—we are approaching the decisive phase.
This is the final stretch of the marathon, and it is the stretch that separates participation from performance. It demands urgency without panic, reform without recklessness, and productivity without compromise of standards.
This final phase must be deliberately reform-driven. We must prioritise laws that unlock growth, strengthen institutions, secure lives and property, and restore confidence in the Nigerian state. We must resist the temptation of unfinished business and legislative clutter.
What we pass now must be what Nigeria truly needs now—laws that work, reforms that endure, and oversight that corrects rather than merely criticises.
It must also be a legacy phase—a time of house-cleaning: clearing bottlenecks, completing what we started, and leaving behind a legislative house that is orderly, principled, and functional. History will not judge us by volume, but by value; not by noise, but by impact.
We must leave behind a vision of Nigeria that is more governable than we met it, more just than we found it, and more hopeful than it was entrusted to us—a Nigeria where institutions are stronger than individuals, where laws serve the people rather than burden them, and where the future feels possible again.
We are therefore hitting the ground running. The budget calls for decisive action—rigorous scrutiny, responsible passage, and faithful implementation. Our work ahead requires sustained collaboration with all stakeholders, including the Executive, guided always by mutual respect and constitutional responsibility. Cooperation remains our compass—not for convenience, but for national progress.
Above all, let us never forget our assignment. We are here for Nigerians. We are their ears—to hear their cries. We are their eyes—to see their realities. We are their legislative voice—to give form to their hopes and protection to their rights.
Distinguished Senators, this is our moment of reckoning—not one of fear, but of purpose. The clock is running, the nation is watching, and history is taking notes.
Let it be said that when the Tenth Senate reached the final stretch, it did not slow down, it did not look away, and it did not leave the work unfinished. Let it be said that we ran harder, thought deeper, acted bolder, and served better—so that long after we leave these seats, Nigeria will remember us not merely as legislators, but as trustees who honoured the future.
Let us rise to that memory. Let us finish strong.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
