How NASS has been violating the Constitution since 1999

A failure of the two chambers of the National Assembly to inaugurate a Joint Finance Committee as mandated by Section 62(3) of the 1999 Constitution has been described as a huge affront to the nation’s ground norm.

Knowledgeable sources about legislative practice who have tried in the past to get the legislature to respect the section of the Constitution told the Nigerian Tribune that failure to obey the constitutional provision is a violation of the law which could threaten the very essence of the legislative institution.

Section 62(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides that: “The Senate and the House of Representatives shall appoint a joint committee on finance consisting of an equal number of persons appointed by each House and may appoint any other joint committee under the provisions of this Section.”

According to knowledgeable technocrats on constitutional procedures, the provision of the constitution has been held in abeyance since the inauguration of the current Assembly in 1999.

The fourth session of Nigeria’s National Assembly came alive in the Fourth Republic starting in June 1999 and the sessions have remained unbroken till date. The 10th National Assembly inaugurated in June 2023 is currently in session.

Sources told the Nigerian Tribune that every effort made in the past to ensure the inauguration of the Joint Committee was rebuffed by the political wing of the legislature, presiding and principal officers.

A source said that the committee is completely different from the Committee on Finance and Appropriations which have always been empaneled by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“What makes this committee special is that it is meant to be a committee of equal numbers of persons,” the source said, adding that the committee must oversee the budgetary process, resolve executive/legislature disagreements on budgetary provisions, and also checkmate organs of the executive from shortchanging the people.

A source in the know told the Nigerian Tribune that the Joint Committee, different from Joint meetings of the Appropriation or Finance committees of the two chambers is supposed to help the lawmakers in the discharge of their oversight functions, budget preparations, budget analyses, budget policies, implementation and review.

He said that the committee would also be in charge of budget research as well as income and expenditure profiling such that it would be directly charged with the responsibility of determining envelopes currently being issued to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies by the Budget Office of the Federation.

“Even in the case of disagreement between the assembly and the executive, the committee will be at the forefront with the resolution of the disagreement,” the source said, adding that successive leadership of the legislature had failed to empanel the body because of the fear that it would take away certain functions of the presiding officers.

Rather than be in a strong position to handle budget preparation, forecast, micro and macro analysis, and capacity to determine the nation’s revenue, the assembly is just laid bare, with a practically National Assembly Budget and Research Office, which he said only operates by name.

“The Joint Finance Committee envisaged by Section 62(3) of the Constitution is meant to be at the forefront of budgeting, advising the leadership of the National Assembly on budgetary spending and savings. It can say, we are expecting revenue of N10 trillion next year and because of the instability in the global economy, we will advise the executive to spend N8 trillion, while keeping the balance and stabilise the budget in case there are hiccups,” the source further said.

He said: “It is quite easy to conclude that ego by the leadership of the National Assembly is responsible for the failure to set up the joint committee which would have gone a long way to professionalise the budgetary process and reduce unwarranted borrowing. So the legislators are only there in the name, claiming to hold the power of the purse, which they don’t. Meanwhile, they as legislators are supposed to be looking after the financial interest of the people.”