Punch Facts about Reps’ mid-term report JUNE 14, 2013 BY JOHN AMEH In this piece, John Ameh reviews the recent appraisal of the activities of the House of Representatives by members and other stakeholders On Thursday, June 6, members of the House of Representatives gathered at the Green Chamber to celebrate the second Anniversary of the seventh Assembly (June 6, 2011-June 6, 2013). It was a joyous moment for our representatives as they savoured beautifully crafted speeches by invited speakers, who appraised their performance in the last two years. There was consensus among the appraisers as most scored the legislators 65 per cent in terms of performance in the period under review. A total of 512 bills were presented out of which, 60 were passed into law within this period. In the same vein, 134 are progressing at the committee stage, to quote the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal. One of them is the eagerly-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill. Over 700 motions were treated by the House, while more than 1, 000 petitions from the public were treated. In terms of oversight, the House said it vigorously monitored budget implementation and called Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government to account, thereby saving cost for government in line with the Legislative Agenda of the 7th House. But was it all as rosy as the thunderous ovation of the day suggested? The Upside True, Tambuwal had presided over a stable House within the last two years. He seems to have found a way to skirt the infamous ‘banana peel’ of the House. This stability, coming soon after the turbulent 6th House, is a point for the lawmakers. Since June 2011, no blows have been exchanged on the floor. There have been no petitions or splinter groups fighting or calling for the removal of the leadership. This was not the case in the sixth House. There was hardly a week without tense moments on the floor. Indeed, Nigerians looked forward to House sittings because they were certain ugly developments would play out. Analysts attribute the stability to the selection process which led to the emergence of Tambuwal and Emeka Ihedioha as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively. Tambuwal in particular is seen as a listening leader, who often plays politics by allowing members to have their way on the floor and at other levels of interactions. The speaker’s office is said to be open to all, thus, giving everyone a feeling of importance. The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, gives reasons for the calm: “We have learnt (from) our mistakes. This time round, we have decided that the mistakes of the past will not repeat themselves. That is why you can see that there is a high level of maturity in all of us.” The House pursued the review of the 1999 Constitution with some seriousness in the last two years. Its novel idea of “Peoples’ Public Sessions” for the first time gave Nigerians the opportunity to vote on issues they want to be included in the constitution. The Emeka Ihedioha-led Ad-Hoc Committee on Constitution Review conducted the exercise in all 360 federal constituencies on November 10, 2012, giving people the opportunity to have a say. The Public Sessions simplified the amendment process, as the people have spoken. What is left is for the lawmakers to collate these contributions and turn them into bills to be debated and passed by the House. In pursuit of its oversight responsibilities, the insistence of the House to do a thorough check on the national budget has pitted it against the Executive arm of government. Its committees on Finance and Public Accounts, among others, have kept MDAs on their toes, forcing many of them to remit billions of naira hitherto uncounted for. The most celebrated of such functions during the period under review remains the fuel subsidy probe of April 2012. The investigation exposed how government agencies connived with oil marketers to defraud the nation of a whopping N1.07trillion in the guise of fuel subsidy. It turned out that huge quantities of petroleum products duly paid for with taxpayer’s money were never imported! The success of the investigation attracted the attention of the Swiss-based global organisation, Crans Montana Forum, leading to the recognition of Tambuwal as the body’s Emerging Leader of 2013. The Downside About 260 out of the 360 members of the 7th House are coming to the National Assembly for the first time. Clearly, many still don’t seem to know why they are there. Questions have been asked as to whether the stability being celebrated by the House is because of docility among lawmakers. One of the easiest things to do in the House is to second a motion. The majority of these lawmakers have not seconded a motion in two years. It is likely that many of them will not second one before their tenure expires on June 6, 2015. The work of the House seems to revolve around the same few who speak on the floor and also participate in committee activities. This docile approach to work; accounts for the dismal outing by the over 90 standing committees of the House. Reports of many assignments referred to these committees some dating back to June 2011, are still being awaited. Incidentally, the committees appropriate money for these assignments. Tambuwal admitted this problem in his anniversary address on Thursday. He said, “It must be admitted that the timely reportage by House Committees on bills and other matters referred to them for action, had been far from satisfactory. This has impacted negatively on the accomplishment of targets. Henceforth, Committees will be cited for such breaches and sanctioned appropriately.” There have been suggestions that these unwieldy committees, created largely for patronage, should be pruned down to around 50. The truth is that right now, roughly between 10 and 20 committees are really working. An analysis of the over 700 motions passed by the House indicates that 75 per cent of them don’t address anything. Observers say the only purpose some of the motions serve is for the lawmaker to be seen speaking on national television. This explains why motions are crowded on Thursdays, when the session of the House is shown live on television. Many motions seek to ask agencies to do jobs that are their statutory responsibilities. While the motions are being debated, the agencies may have already completed the intervention the motion is seeking. Anti-corruption war: While the House has expressed a desire to expose corruption, the conduct of some members put this desire to the test. The success of the fuel subsidy probe in April 2012 was tainted by the $620, 000 bribery allegation levelled against the Chairman of the probe panel, Mr. Farouk Lawan. Although the House suspended Lawan and later removed him as committee chairman, the allegation reduced the credibility of the subsidy report in the eyes of the public. The matter is still in Court. The probe of the collapse of the Nigerian Capital Market is another case in point. Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Arunma Oteh, alleged that the Chairman, House Committee on Capital Market, Mr. Herman Hembe, demanded a bribe of N44million from the agency. Like Lawan’s case, the House asked Hembe to step aside from the probe; yet the final report of the investigation remains a subject of controversy. Hembe and his deputy, Mr. Chris Azubogu, are also standing trial in court over the $4, 000 travelling allowance they reportedly took from SEC. Analysts posit that The Seventh House is a disorderly one. It is common practice for lawmakers to be chatting and exchanging banters while proceedings are on. The atmosphere sometimes is akin to a market square, where traders and buyers move from point-to-point to haggle over prices of wares, resulting in noise. Presiding officers indulge their colleagues by allowing them to cause unnecessary distractions during proceedings. The procession of presiding officers into the chamber has lately been reduced to what appears like the coronation of traditional rulers. As the presiding officers approach the chamber, members line up the aisle, competing for the speaker/deputy speaker’s attention. Everybody wants a handshake and possibly an embrace. This drama sometimes delays sittings for up to 20 minutes. Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Victor Afam Ogene, describes the disorderly conduct of his colleagues as “lobbying.” “We are not in prison; there is nothing wrong in people discussing or lobbying for the passage of one motion or bill,” Ogene said. No doubt, the House made some giant strides, but, as admitted by the leadership in its mid-term report, there is still a lot of cleaning up to be done. As one of the speakers at the event, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, succinctly captured it , “There are some notable accomplishments. You have it in your hands to determine the ranking of this honourable House in the eyes of posterity. “There are also clear challenges that must be addressed urgently. As you go forward to do this, may you keep faith with our constitution, our country and our people; may the Almighty bless you and may He bless our country too.”
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 08:04:44 +0000
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