NIGERIAN PARLIAMENT, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS: BEING TEXT OF A PAPER BY RT. HON. SULEIMAN ABDULRAHAMAN KAWU SUMAILA, DEPUTY MINORITY LEADER, ANPP LEADER, MEMBERRESENTING SUMAILA/TAKAI FEDERAL CONSITUENCY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF NIGERIA ON THE OCCASION OF THE POST MATRICULATION LECTURES FOR MATRICULATING STUDENTS OF BAYERO UNIVESITY KANO ORGANIZED BY THE STUDENT UNION GOVERNMENT, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12TH , 2013 Protocols: INTRODUCTION: Let me start by expressing my appreciation to the Student Union Government of Bayero University Kano for this invitation to give a talk at the occasion. I wish to state that this is not an academic paper and therefore will not come with the aesthetics of an academic lecture, but that is not to say that it will not be definitive enough. PARLIAMENT: 2. In the strict sense a parliament is the legislative body of those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system derived from that of the United Kingdom (U.K). In terms of linguistic origin, it is French, meaning a talk or discussion in an Assembly of Persons. 3. The term parliament is now used to generally refer to a legislative body or the law making arm of government. I should say however that technically while all parliaments are legislatures, not all legislatures are parliaments. The Nigerian Legislature for instant which is fashioned after the American Model will technically not qualify as a parliament in the strict sense. 4. The concept of democracy is built upon the idea that the people are sovereign and power belongs to them. However, since the people cannot exercise this power directly, they elect some amongst them to exercise it on their behalf. In simple terms, those who are called leaders hold their positions not by any divine law, but by the leave of the people. They are only leaders by proxy. THE NIGERIAN PARLIAMENT: 5. therefore refers to the legislative arm of government in Nigeria and more specifically in the sense of the present discuss the National Assembly, which is created by Section4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(As Amended) for the purpose of making laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation or any part thereof with regards to maters within its constitutionally demarcated jurisdiction. The same Section 4 creates the House of Assembly of States in its Sub-Sections 6 and 7 thereof with similar functions but different geopolitical jurisdiction. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF NIGERIA: 6. Created by Section 4 of the Constitution, the national Assembly comprises two Chambers namely the Senate with 109 members and the House of Representatives with 360 Members. Both Chambers basically have co-ordinate jurisdiction meaning they do the same job. 7. The National Assembly or Legislature has three main functions namely legislation (law making), Representation and Oversight. 8. Legislation is the power of making laws, Representation is the function of protecting the interest of the Constituents or people represented by being their eyes, ears and voice in governance while oversight is the function of supervising the other arms of government to ensure that they implement properly and accurately the laws made by the legislature. (more pronounced is the execution of the programmes and projects in the Annual Budgets of the Federal Government). CHALLENGES: 9. One fundamental challenge facing the Legislature is RELATIVE OBSCURITY among the three arms of government. Owing to the dominance of military rule between 1960 to 1999 the legislature had for most times being an absentee arm of government since the military always scrapped it, therefore members of the public including public sector workers and the polity generally have been used to the executive and judicial arms but not the Legislature. The impact of this involuntary absenteeism is that the role of the legislature is grossly misunderstood and thus when the National Assembly performs its legitimate duties it is perceived as interfering in governance. This arises from genuine ignorance in some cases but outright mischief in others. 10. With specific reference to LEGISLATION, this negative perception by some sections of the public and the executive arms tends to frustrate speedy legislation. In spite of the clear provisions in Section 81 that the President shall lay estimates of revenues and expenditure and Section 58 and 59 that the Legislative has final say on the making of laws including the Appropriation Act, the executive has continued to contest this function year in year out, surprisingly with support from certain sections of the polity. 11. Again, only recently, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria acting under the powers conferred on him under Section 305 (I) and (II) issued a proclamation of State of Emergency in the States of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe and transmitted same to the national Assembly. Notwithstanding the fact that Section 305 subsection 6 (b) States clearly that in the absence of the two-third approval by the National Assembly the proclamation stands revoked, some section of the public seriously criticised the National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives, for discussing the proclamation notice. In their view the national Assembly was under obligation to merely rubber stamp the said proclamation without diligent scrutiny. For those who know the law, the principle is that whoever has the power to approve also has the power to withhold his approval and in any case any person called upon to do scrutiny on any matter is expected to exercise due diligence and nothing less. 12. One major REPRESENTATION challenge is the difficulty in getting the Executive and some sections of the public to come to terms with the fact that the Legislator is the ears, eyes and voice of the people, he represents and that when the constituents have problem he must act as their voice to call attention. Similarly when disbursing government patronage, the legislator is the eyes of the constituents to ensure that there is equity and that the interest of the constituents is properly advanced and protected. This explains why law makers move motions on the floor when there are natural disasters, communal crises or epidemic outbreak in their constituencies. By this they fulfils the function of being the ears, eyes and voice of the people- whatever they see or hear they bring to the attention of the relevant authorities and proffer cogent remedies. 13. In the same vein the running battle between the executive and legislature over the issue of constituency projects is premised on the conviction of the legislature that in the absence of constituency projects many federal constituencies and infact sections of the country will never get fair patronage in government programmes and projects. 14. There has been public misinformation suggesting that the projects are for the personal benefits of the law makers, there can be nothing further from the truth. The only role of the legislator is in determining the location of the project based on his special knowledge Of the composition as well as priority needs of his constituency. Analysis has shown that these Constituency Projects have helped greatly in the rural development programme of government. Strangely some members of the public who are avid critics of this programme come from communities in which these projects are located. 15. In the area of OVERSIGHT there is an erroneous impression that the main object of the oversight is pecuniary benefits to the law makers. The reality is that the oversight activity of the National Assembly has unearthed monumental fraud in governance in accordance with the constitutional duty of exposing corruption, inefficiency and waste in governance. There have been a few incidences which Members have allegedly conducted themselves in a manner not very honorable. The House has however acted swiftly in such circumstances to sanction Members by way of administrative action. 16. The other general challenge is that of FUNDING. The National Assembly runs 109 Senatorial Districts and 360 Federal Constituencies covering the entire land space of Nigeria with a total of 149 elected functionaries each with offices and staff in Abuja and at the constituency. This is apart from the large staff compliment made up of Senior Professionals and technical experts in various fields. It is obvious that a sizable quantum of funds is required to run this large outfit. 17. When the above is compared with the percentage of National budget for the legislature, it is clear that the funding is in the real sense inadequate. In the 2013 budget for instance, out of the total budget of N4.9Trillion, the National Assembly budget has N150 Billion, representing only meager percentage of the total budget. This contrasts sharply with the budget of N300 Billion for a single agency like the CBN. This notwithstanding, the public is being fed with insightful information to the effect that the National Assembly is the arm of Government that consumes the huge chunk of the National Revenue. This is mischievous blackmail intended only to portray the legislature in bad light, unfortunately, some sections of the public are convinced by this cheap blackmail and employ same as basis for their perception of the legislature. 18. Besides these generally challenges there is a special challenge for the opposition. Given that they are in the minority they are unable, most of the time to push through their programs however well thought out and well intentioned. As the well-entrenched maxim goes, the minority must have their say while the majority must have their way, so is it with those of us in the opposition in the National Assembly. In fairness to the majority however, when it comes to critical national issues, it becomes immaterial whether the idea originated from the minority of the majority. PROSPECTS: 19. There is a gradual growing awareness of the functions and workings of the legislature by the Public. This arises from a series of developments. First the live transmission of the sittings of the National Assembly on Wednesdays and Thursdays by the Television stations and the general enhanced coverage of both the electronic and print media of the activities of the National Assembly including investigative hearings has brought the public to directly appreciate the legislature. 20. Under the 7th Assembly the House of Representatives undertook public hearings in all the 360 constituencies of the federation thus involving themselves in intimate interaction with the general populace. This was followed with the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which was also taken to the six geo political zones of the country. The Senate has also held its Constitution Amendment hearings in the ix geo political zones of the country. 21. One clear evidence that the public is gradually appreciating the functions and workings of the legislature stems from the frequent protests by groups to the premises of the National Assembly on different matters of National concern. It shows they know where those representing their interest are. 22. Another prospect is the emergence of pragmatic leadership in the legislature which has advanced the cause of separation of powers and the observance of the rule of law. The consistency in the pursuit of these principles is beginning to engender synergy in the inter relationship between the arms of government. The process may be slow but it is definitely impactful .Even though this may seem to create frosty relations for now, it is merely a teething problem which will abate with time and the Nation shall be the better for it. 23. Perhaps the biggest prospect is the continuity of civilian democratic rule. We had noted earlier that one major challenge of the legislature was relative obscurity arising mostly from involuntary absenteeism in consequence of the long years of post-independence military rule. Since 1999, Nigeria has now witnessed fourteen years of uninterrupted democratic governance during which the legislature has flourished. It is clear that once the public and indeed the political and governance systems begin to understand the role of the legislature in democratic governance, wrong perceptions of this arm of government by the polity will abate. CONCLUSION: 24. In conclusion, distinguished audience, ladies and gentlemen, the legislature is a compulsory leg in the tripod of true democracy. However owing to the long years of military rule in post-independence Nigeria the legislature had become an absentee component leading to its obscurity. It has thus continued to be misunderstood even within the system and the polity in general either out of genuine ignorance or calculated mischief. 25. We have however seen that the long uninterrupted years of civil democratic governance since 1999, the enhanced activity and robust interaction of the legislature with the people and leadership pragmatism are working to stamp the relevance and necessity of the legislature on the minds and psyche of the people and the polity in general. 26. Thank you all and God bless.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:42:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015