NASS open week: Reflections on legislative oversight

By: Ahmed Musa Baba

The 2026 edition of the 10th National Assembly Open Week, at the risk of sounding immodest, has witnessed remarkable success in its organization and execution, a credit of which rests squarely with the leadership of the House of Representatives, led by the trailblazing Speaker, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D., GCON.

However, the lessons of the events should remain poignant in the minds of Nigerians, flowing from the nature of issues debated, problems identified, as well as solutions advanced for curbing what many would agree have become perennial in Nigeria’s democratic journey, as it relates to legislative governance practices.

The event that captured the core essence of the legislature was the session that dealt with oversight as enshrined in Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution.

Chaired by a former Speaker of the House in the 8th Assembly, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, the session, themed ‘Oversight, CSOs, and Delivery Exchange,’ sought to provide an objective assessment of legislative oversight under the leadership of the 10th House, drawing resource persons from the legislature, the executive arm, civil society, and the bureaucracy of the National Assembly.

While the focal areas were all-encompassing, covering every angle of legislative oversight, the inadequacy of that particular function, which enables the legislature to provide checks and balances, as well as the factors responsible for such inadequacy, featured more prominently in the conversation.

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Shining the first light on the subject was the Speaker Abbas himself, who was represented by the Majority Leader of the House, Prof. Julius Ihonbvere.

The Speaker’s argument was simple and straight: given the large number of government agencies—over a thousand of them—funding the Standing Committees for effective oversight becomes a challenge. He said such funding gaps create the weakest link in the governance chain, since lawmakers can’t expect agencies to sponsor their oversight activities and still scrutinize them in a manner that prioritizes public interest.

“Let’s tell ourselves the bitter truth. How can lawmakers effectively oversight agencies without adequate institutional financial strength? How does a Committee travel outside the legislature and objectively scrutinize the activities of agencies if air tickets, feeding, and accommodation of Members are paid for by the same agencies they wish to oversee?” the Speaker queried.

Also expanding the debate to other factors was Hon. Cyril Hart, chairman of the Committee on the Evaluation and Implementation of the Legislative Agenda, who pointed out that besides poor funding, lack of cooperation from the executive arm, and inexperience on the part of some legislators also constitute limitations affecting legislative oversight.

Buried in the factors listed by Hon. Hart is one pungent message of legislative perversion: the ‘turn-by-turn’ system of representation in Nigeria, which has necessitated the constantly huge turnover of legislators every four years. As old lawmakers go away with their experience, the new ones have to learn afresh, the result of which is sometimes poor oversight.

Just as it is customary with lawmakers during committee hearings, the session tried to disabuse the minds of the public with the simple mantra: oversight is never an instrument of witch hunts but a tool for accountability and good governance that benefits the electorate. At the session, the point was made plainly: without effective oversight, lawmaking may become an academic exercise, just as public institutions may become inefficient and unaccountable if oversight is not structured to elicit transparency.

For Dogara, he applauded the 10th House for adorning the garment of courage and legislative reforms. He said, “It takes great courage to legislate behind closed doors and even greater courage to open your doors to the entire public to come in and examine your actions, take notes, and criticize you where necessary.”

Dogara’s message dwelt on legislative collaboration with civil society, if the funding trap must be beaten to uphold oversight. He argued that the effectiveness of oversight is usually anchored on partnership with civil society organizations, stressing that given what the legislature gets from the national budget, there exist serious funding gaps that such partnership is necessary. He said Civil Society Organizations have the resources that committees’ budgets cannot mobilize, as well as the community network and reach.

Another militating factor against effective oversight, as noted by Speaker Abbas through the Majority Leader, Prof. Ihonbvere, is the issue of political patronage, where party executives are appointed as chairmen or chief executives of government agencies whilst still keeping their positions in the party.

According to the Speaker, it will be difficult for legislators to effectively scrutinize records of agencies headed by leaders of their parties who can influence their return tickets in the next elections.

This point was further reechoed by Hon. Cyril Hart, who noted that “one of the daunting challenges lawmakers face is that of political patronage, where a national chairman of the ruling party is made chairman of a board of an agency, and he’s also responsible for compiling names of his party’s candidates for submission to the INEC after the primaries. Knowing that one can be denied a return ticket just for doing his job during oversight makes it impossible for Members of his party to effectively scrutinize his agency.”

For Hon. Saidu Musa Abdullahi, who is the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Finance, the distinctive feature of democracy is the existence of the legislature, asking, “How well have we fared?”

The lawmaker noted that one of the main problems is the leadership recruitment process, particularly for legislators. According to him, many lawmakers came to the National Assembly with the mindset of serving the people, but the high probability of being replaced after four years discourages many from pursuing actual legislative ideals. He also asked how well have committees been structured to face oversight challenges? 

Oversight remains the only legislative function that brings the legislature to physically interface with the executive arm, said Hon. Chike Okafor, Chairman, Committee on Nutrition and Food Security of the House. Okafor pointed out that Members through standing, special, or ad-hoc committees go out on fact-finding missions to gather data with a view to making informed legislative decisions that benefit the country.

But he identified one serious limitation: the absence of institutional capacity to fund such important activities, which he said waters down the effectiveness of it.

Another factor identified by the session was the absence of financial autonomy for local governments despite the Supreme Court ruling on the matter. Speaker Abbas noted that many Nigerians expect legislators to perform the roles of local government chairmen in terms of providing infrastructure at the grassroots.

He opined that the immense pressure constituents mount on their representatives, and the desires to meet such demands often make legislators susceptible to manipulation by agencies, particularly the ones through which intervention projects are awarded and executed.

Panelists such as Hon. Bamidele Salam, Chairman, Public Accounts Committee of the House, also identified lack of cooperation by heads of MDAs using all manner of excuses to delay the probe. He noted that not only do government agencies seek indefinite postponement of appearances before committees, but they also use the judiciary to stifle the legislature through unnecessary court orders. This, he said, is a bane of legislative oversight.

The panel bemoaned the practice of rushing to obtain court injunctions by erring government agencies the moment there is a parliamentary resolution to probe their activities.

It said agencies usually brandish court orders before National Assembly committees as the basis for their inability to cooperate on issues under scrutiny. This practice is also further enabled by the parliamentary rule prohibiting it from deliberating on matters before the courts, a loophole that has been exploited to the detriment of the people.

The session, therefore, elicited the understanding that oversight as a core legislative mandate under the principle of checks and balances has been below expectations due to the reasons advanced. However, the question remains whether the executive arm, which holds the key to resolving most of the issues raised, will cooperate as a true partner in progress.

In the end, participants and stakeholders agreed that to achieve effective oversight, parliamentary committees must be well-armed with competent hands, as well as become independent, while MDAs must give them maximum cooperation and understanding to succeed.