Senate: Walking the talk?

With days to the second year in the life of the ninth Senate, TAIWO AMODU writes on the political intrigues, battle and skepticism that have characterised the legislative activities of the Ahmad Lawan led Senate National Assembly.

IN an election that turned out to be an anti-climax, the senator representing Yobe North, Ahmad Lawan, had emerged as the president of the Senate and Chairman, Ninth National Assembly on June 11, 2019. What was predicted to be a three-horse race between him, former Gombe State governor and Senator representing Gombe Central,  Danjuma Goje and the senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume was reduced to  a contest between Ndume and Lawan, with the latter winning with a convincing  margin,  having scored 79 votes to the former’s 28 votes.

Lawan’s ascension courted instant excitement and strong reservations, depending on the side of the political divide. For the presidency, the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee and its power brokers, it was the dawn of a new beginning and smooth working relationship between the executive and the legislature.

Both Senator Bukola Saraki, the immediate past President of the Senate and Yakubu Dogara, the immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives were dismissed as they were perceived as willing tools in the hands of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP). While the eighth Assembly proclaimed the parliament as a separate institution which should not be subordinated to the executive arm, they were marked as agent provocateurs of the PDP, who were bent on frustrating the noble intentions of the APC administration.

The horse trading between lawmakers that saw to the emergence of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, a PDP senator as Deputy Senate President and the return of the duo of Saraki and Dogara to the PDP on the eve of the 2019 general elections had since reinforced that perception. In the eyes of the opposition, Senator Lawan’s victory which was a fait  accompli before the election was portentous, as they noted that the Parliament would soon be reduced to a mere appendage of the  Presidency. Lawan in his victory speech assured his colleagues that the Senate under his leadership would be blind to partisan affiliations. Lawan successfully pulled a stunt which jolted the Presidency and the APC NWC under Comrade Adams Oshiomhole when in July 2019, he gave 20, out of the 69 Committees slots, perceived as juicy, to lawmakers in the main opposition party.

PDP chieftains, who took chairmen of committees perceived as juicy and announced by Senator Lawan included: Senators Dino Melaye, (PDP Kogi now given to Senator Smart Adeyemi) Aviation; James Manager, (PDP Delta) Gas Resources; Senator Peter Nwaoboshi,  (PDP Delta) Niger Delta;  Senator Bassey Akpan, (PDP Akwa Ibom) Petroleum Resources;  Gabriel Suswam, (PDP Benue),  Power; Senator Ike Ekweremadu, (PDP Enugu) Environment. Others were Senator Rose Okoh, Trade and Investment; Senator Stella Oduah, Vice- chairman, Appropriation; Senator Gershon Henry Bassey, Federal Roads Maintenance Agency; Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, Cooperation and Integration in Africa and NEPAD and Senator Francis Alimikhena, Customs, Excise and Tariff.

Notwithstanding the seeming pacification of his colleagues, Lawan’s leadership of the Senate can best be gauged by his fidelity to his pledge to run a parliament that “will work to ensure best global parliamentary practices among other things”. But, to what extent has he delivered on this?

Nigerian Tribune checks revealed that the ninth Senate while unveiling its legislative agenda promised to return the nation to a budget cycle of January-December and use legislation to boost the nation revenue drive. Senator Lawan while asking for the votes of his colleague during the uncertain days of his campaign for the exalted office pledged a return to the January-December budget cycle. He said: “The current trend of not having predictable budget cycle does not augur well for the country which by the grace of God, will be addressed by the 9th Senate and by extension, National Assembly in collaboration with the executive arm of government.

“In achieving this, specific time and window of activities from presentation to consideration, passage and signing into law by the President shall be worked out. Since it takes two to tango and budget proposals are initiated from the executives, the leadership of the 9th National Assembly shall interface with the executive on the need for early presentation of budget proposals and cooperation during consideration for speedy passage by the National Assembly.”

A close look at how things have panned out shows that despite the tardiness on the part of the presidency, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework/ Fiscal Strategy Paper, MTEF/ FSP, which preceded the presentation of the 2020 and 2021 budget was treated with dispatch by the Senate in order to keep to its pledge. In the preceding year, the Senate passed the Appropriation Bill 2020 along with the Finance Bill 2020.

Walking its talk to boost the revenue profile of the present administration and ensure a paradigm shift from the yearly ritual of budget deficit, about N2.5 trillion was, in the 2020 Budget, dedicated to servicing of local and international debts. In the same vein, the Senate amended the nation’s tax laws. The bills amended included, Petroleum Profit Tax, Custom and Excise Tariff Act, Company Income Tax Act, Personal Income Tax Act, Value Added Tax, Stamp Duties Act and Capital Gain Tax. The Senate also passed the Public Procurement Act 2007 (Amendment) Bills, 2019 to sanitise the public procurement process and curtail the incidence and influence of corruption. Also, the  Deep Off-shore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act CAP D3 LFN 2004 (Amendment Bill, 2019) sponsored by the duo of  Senators Albert Bassey Akpan and Ifeanyi Ubah, representing Akwa Ibom Northeast and Anambra North, respectively was passed into law and subsequently assented to by President Muhammadu  Buhari. Sponsors of the bill, in their lead debate before the Red Chamber, said the bill sought to amend the act by reviewing the sharing formula to accrue more benefits for the federal government from its contractual agreement with International Oil Companies. The Senate President had after passage of the bill said the intention of the Senate was to assist the Buhari administration and the nation to use legislation to block all leakages and ultimately increase the Federal Government crude oil earnings.

 Lawan, northern establishment and Buhari’s presidency

Despite the feats achieved by his leadership in the last two years, Nigerians are not fascinated by what they call his open collaboration with Buhari’s presidency in some of its curious policies. Lawmakers across the party divides, particularly from the southern part of the country have continued to squeal, consistently, on the floor of the Red Chamber, against appointments into federal boards and parastatals which they noted was done deliberately to favour the North. Some of these include nominees for the Federal Character Commission, appointments of 40 nominees as vice chancellors and the board of Pension Commission.

Senators have consistently argued against lopsidedness in the appointments into federal boards which they describe as a breach of certain provisions of the Constitution and the Federal Character principle, enshrined in the 1999 Constitution. Senator representing Ekiti Central and Chairman, Southern Senators Forum, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, recently advised President Buhari and his appointees saddled with nomination of individuals for appointments to uphold the federal character principle. He maintained that apart from meeting eligibility criteria stipulated for the relevant public offices into which they are being appointed, adequate care must also be taken to ensure that the federal character principle established by virtue of the clear provision of Section 14, Sub-section (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is met by nominees.

Last month, a bill for the establishment of Armed Forces Services Commission, 2021, sponsored by the senator representing Abia South and Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, was rejected at second reading by the Senate. The bill sought to ensure that the composition of the Armed Forces of the Federation reflects federal character in the manner prescribed by Section 217 of the Constitution. With the exception of Senate Majority Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi and senator representing Taraba South, Emmanuel Bwacha, who spoke in support of the bill, majority of the senators from the North faulted the timing of the presentation of the bill as they claimed that it would politicise recruitment and promotion in the Armed Forces and undermine professionalism.

As the nation prepares for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution, some Nigerians have expressed strong reservations about the capacity of the Senate leadership to carry out fundamental amendments of the document. A source revealed that majority of lawmakers from the Southern part of the country were peeved at Lawan’s recent public denunciation of the call for restructuring of the country by the 17 governors from the southern part of the country who met  at Asaba, Delta State capital.

In an apparent reference to the derisive label of the National Assembly as a rubber stamp parliament, Senator Lawan has consistently maintained that his focus is to ensure a warm relationship between the executive and the parliament, in the larger interest of the nation.

He said: “In terms of the relationship between the executive and the legislature, I believe that you can have two relationships.

“The first is a negative one, the other one is a positive one. If you choose to fight, the two arms suffer and the country suffers even more because it is not possible for you to fight and yet get something done for the country.

“I don’t belong to the school of thought of encouraging fighting between the two arms of government. I can tell you I was in opposition for 16 years from 1999 to 2015. I argued and opposed positions that I felt was supposed to be opposed but I knew the limits of my opposition when the issues before us were issues that would make life better for Nigerians. There is nothing like rubber stamp. Of course, I won’t deny it. I am a President Buhari man. I am. I believe in him, I believe in my party because of the ideals it stands for.”

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