JACOB SEGUN OLATUNJI and KOLAWOLE DANIEL highlight some of the activities marking two years of the eighth session of House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives on June 9 rolled out drums to celebrate its second anniversary. It was an occasion that featured lots of fanfare and backslapping by the lawmakers. It all started with a long roll call of dignitaries specially invited to grace the occasion and felicitate with the Rep members.
Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who kick started the ceremony with his opening address said that, it was a rare privilege to preside over this House on such a momentous occasion “attended by many of our predecessors who made this institution what it is: a House of the Nigerian people.”
On why the House chose to celebrate the occasion, the Speaker said: “We have chosen to mark this day, not because we are in the mood for celebrations. No. We are marking this day even when the nation is struggling to exit from the excruciating economic recession and anguish being faced by our people.”
The occasion, he said was to afford the lawmakers the opportunity ”to simply appraise ourselves, to find out at mid-term, how far we have kept faith with our constituents and Nigerians in the contract or social charter we entered into at the inception of the eighth House of Representatives via our legislative agenda.
“We wish to be availed of an honest assessment of the achievements and failures we have recorded so far, as a deliberate effort that may lead to deepening our democracy and its tools with which to approach with the needed confidence, the next two years left of our mandate.”
While raising some pertinent questions, the Speaker said, “It is important to ask ourselves some hard questions. Have we always placed the interest of our constituents and Nigerians first in all our endeavours? Have we always placed national interest above self, regional and other interests? Are we patriotic or partisan? Have we used our legislative authority to expose corruption, inefficiency and waste in government activities? Have we made laws for the peace, order, and good government of Nigeria? Have we shown fidelity to the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in Chapter two of the Constitution?”
According to him, the answer to above posers would provide the criteria and yardstick through which Nigerians would assess the lawmakers. He said that the assessment would distinguish between politicians and statesmen.
He stated that while politicians are just interested in the next election, leaders are cultural architects because “they create the environment by which others can grow and flourish.” Dogara did not shy away from beating his chest on the achievements of the House since inception. He said: “On my part, I will answer the above posers with qualifications. Yes, we have done reasonably well in most of the indices indicated. But there is a very large room to do even more. I answer these questions, fully conscious of the fact that self-appraisal is inherently problematic and is prone to bias. The appraisal of the general public and our peers will be more objective.
“Let me therefore save myself from the dishonour of marking our own script and submitting to the judgement of those given the task of appraising our performance today.”
On the core mandate of the House the Speaker enumerated the key achievements as follows:
Core Mandate
“In terms of the core mandate of law-making, we have remained a bastion of legislative activism. Indeed members of the 8th House of Representatives are in keen competition with one another in fashioning out legislative solutions to myriad of problems facing the nation.
That is why in all facets of law-making, we can comfortably and conveniently assert that we have broken all records.
“Statistics bear this out. The total number of Bills introduced so far are 1064 out of which Executive Bills are 50, Senate Bills transmitted to the House – 21 and Private Members Bills – 993. A total of 126 Bills have been passed by the House and the others are at various stages in the legislative mill. 27 Bills have received Presidential assent and a lot more are in the pipeline. Each of the achievements highlighted above is unsurpassed by any previous Assembly. The sheer volume of these Bills attests to the vibrancy of the House in its attempt to legislate on key areas of our national life at a very trying time in our history.
“Public Petitions received in the last two years are over 500 in number and the Committee on Public Petitions conducts Public Hearings on these petitions almost every week to ensure citizen access to the legislature.
Budget and Budgeting
“On issue of Budget, we kept our promise to Nigerians at the beginning of the legislative session to ensure transparent deliberation and passage of the 2017 Appropriations Bill which will be signed into law this week. We have also carried out significant Budget Reforms. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, a Public Hearing was conducted in the National Assembly to get the input of Nigerians in the budgetary process. Further reforms introduced include the details of the Appropriation Act being available to all members before passage in plenary; the requirement that members of each Committee should sign the Report of their Committees before being sent to the Committee on Appropriations. “All these novel measures are unprecedented in the history of our Parliament. These proactive measures ensured that the House’s debate and consideration of the 2017 budget proposal presented by the President was evidence based and geared towards galvanising the economy for greater growth.”
On Unemployment
“Realising that underemployment is as grave a problem as unemployment, we in the House have introduced a Bill on new minimum wage Bill to promote the welfare and well-being of Nigerian workers especially in light of changing economic realities. For us, it is unacceptable that the average Nigerian worker is shut out from the promise of democracy, which is: “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.
“Our democracy must be made to work for all Nigerians including our workers who must have the tools with which to pursue happiness while in active service or in retirement”, the Speaker noted.
Fight against Corruption
“One other challenge that the country has had to grapple with is corruption. Our legislative response has been by way of legislation and resolutions. Many Bills in this respect have been passed, and many are still in the mill. Some motions have led to the series of investigative hearings that are ongoing. Besides we have injected oversight emphasis in that direction.” Chairman, ThisDay Editorial Board, Olusegun Adeniyi, who was the guest lecturer at the event spoke on “image Perception of the Legislature: Causes and Possible Solutions.”
He told the members that there was the need for them to be up and doing in their lawmaking exercise, while he specifically hammered on a particular bill proposing a six-month imprisonment for persons who jump queues in public places which scaled second reading in the House.
The bill was sponsored by Honourable Abubakar Amuda-Kannike. Adeniyi raised a poser saying “If someone who jumps queue needs to spend six months in jail, how many months should those who jump fence with their Babariga and designer suits, in the full glare of television camera, spend behind bars?” Perhaps referring to an incidence that happened in the 7th Assembly where some members had to scale through fence of the National Assembly to beat a barricade by the Police.
To this end, he said, “based on an analysis of the number of executive and private members’ Bills either awaiting second reading or referred to committees as well as those already passed, it is evident that the 8th House of Representatives has done a lot with regards to its lawmaking and oversight functions. That you have worked harmoniously with the executive is also a proof to the maturity of the leadership which is commendable.”
He however, said, “This anniversary comes at a most auspicious time in the life of our nation when all sorts of characters without any mandate are seizing the landscape to threaten other Nigerians.
“While you remain our elected representatives, these unelected men—and they are all men, including those who, in their 50s and 60s, still categorise themselves as youth—are declaring sit-outs, sit-ins and giving quit notices in a bid to cause confusion in our country and create problems for all of us.
“To the extent that the legislature is the most significant link between the government and the governed, and the one charged with articulating and addressing the grievances of the people, I believe it is in your enlightened interest to weigh in and let these impostors know that they are only speaking for themselves and that there are consequences for incitement and hate speech. In case it has not yet registered, these map-drawers are calling to question your legitimacy as the true representatives of Nigerians and the fact that they are gaining some sort of credibility should worry you.”
“While the existence of a legislative house, whatever name it is called, does not necessarily connote democracy, it is given that there can be no democracy without such representation. So central is the legislature to modern government that from available statistics, 190 countries in the world today have some form of functioning parliament.”
He was particular about what he called a Nigerian challenge. “There is another Nigerian challenge that we should not gloss over. While the Honourable members of this House were elected to make laws for the good governance of the country and through that bring developments to the people, what most of your constituents demand are instant gratifications. They want money to pay the school fees of their children, establish businesses and sometimes even to marry more wives. If you are not able to deliver on these, no matter how many bills you sponsor in the National Assembly or how efficient you are in your oversight functions, you are a failed lawmaker, in their estimation.”
Adeniyi spoke on the fears of most legislators as regards the possibility of their being kicked out in 2019. He said that the lawmakers should worry more about the impact they make in their constituencies state and country as well as the kind of image they build for yourselves.
“With such array of accomplished young men and women educated from the best institutions in the world, I will like to see presidents of Nigeria emerge from this chamber, beginning from 2019,” he said.
While commending the National Assembly for opening up its finances, he added, “You must also understand that some of the choices members make mar this critical arm of government. Voting billions of Naira to order for new cars at a time the economy is going through a recession and majority of Nigerians experience difficult times, has not helped your cause”.
On Nigerians’ perception of House activities, Adeniyi said, “most of the perception problems you have are self-inflicted and originate from this very House. You fight in the open, you spill on one another in the press, you take decisions that are not in tandem with public mood and some members throw irresponsible tantrums on social media. What is often ignored is that image is less about what you say or how you think of yourself, but more about what you do.
“While conflict cannot be ruled out in a place with hundreds of members and is wired for less cohesiveness than the executive and judiciary, you can work on a more harmonious relationship. I believe it is good that there is increasing access to the parliament with the live television feeds and I must commend the leadership of this House for its effective use of social media platforms. Such engagements will deepen understanding of your role as lawmakers. But many Nigerians still believe that the dirty deals are done in executive sessions when you clear the gallery. Anytime you go into such sessions, be sure that suspicion is stirred.
There is also a general perception that many of the members are idle and hardly in Abuja while contributions are not deep.
Deputy Speaker, Honourable Lasun Yusuf who also spoke at the event cautioned on the call by the guest lecturer that members can take a shot at the presidency, saying ‘there is no vacancy in Aso rock in 2019.’
House Minority Leader, Leo Ogor also accessing the House in the last two years congratulated his colleagues for standing firm in two years.
“Two years of uninterrupted parliament, we should make sure that democracy thrive in Nigeria. We call on the executive to work hand in hand with the legislators to strengthen our institutions.”
“The way institutions are being managed does not speak well of a good democracy. Democracy is where freedom of speech is respected. Every member should obey the principle of democracy”, he said.
Majority Leader, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, in his speech admonished the House to seat up in performing its legislative functions. He said that the house has a lot to do in the area of checks and balances.
“When issues come up, our resolutions do not produce result because we have not strengthened our committee on legislative compliance. We need to exercise our constitutional powers, if we want this institution to be respected, we need to take action,” he said.
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