TRADITIONALLY in Nigeria, whenever a military coup was staged by stanch enemies of the democratic process, the legislature was normally made the first casualty. This nauseating scenario began on January 15, 1966 when five majors led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu struck and immediately suspended the legislative arm of government. The December 30 1983, bloodless coup led by Generals Sani Abacha, Domkat Bali, Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida efficiently crippled the parliamentary arm of government, and made nonsense of the constitutional process. This is not unconnected with the significance of the legislature in our representative democracy. The usurping coupists made sure that the legislature was taken out of the way first, before embarking on full seizure of political power. Therefore, military usurpers of conventional political power are enemies of the legislature in Nigeria, and anywhere in the world. And when a group of civilians decide to undermine the sacred independence of the legislature, especially when such individuals are tested hands, so-called elder statesmen, in the business of public service in Nigeria, what do we call them?
When people dare to attack the statutory provisions which the National Assembly Act of 2014 gave the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) to appoint ‘Secretaries to the Directorates’ in the bureaucratic system of the National Assembly, after due ‘recommendation’ from the ‘Clerk to the National Assembly’, what appropriate names could one call them? If military coup plotters are enemies of the legislature in Nigeria, then those who threw away every iota of caution, decorum and honesty to shamelessly and ferociously demand the de-recognition of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) in the scheme of things in the legislature, calling it ‘illegal’, to me, are antagonists of independence of the Legislature in Nigeria. A prominent Nigerian , in a recent interview, and published in a national said that the National Assembly was an arm but not another government of the Federation. Accordingly, he said, the National Assembly Service could not be outside the civil service of the Federation. If the National Assembly is an arm of the federation, just like the judiciary and the executive, where is the place of the principle of separation of powers? The doctrine of separation of powers lays emphasis on the independence of all arms of government, to safeguard abuse of power or deliberate encroachment from any of the arms of government against another. What necessitated the establishment of the NJSC and the National Judicial Council (NJC) for the judicial arm of government in Nigeria? Clearly, it is wrong trying to undo tactically, the statutory cum constitutional provisions in the 1999 Constitution. The National Assembly Act of 2014, even has placed the National Assembly Service Commission NASC, on the same footing with the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), and it must be made clear that, the staff of the National Assembly are public servants, not civil servants.
Dr. Adamu Fika ex- Head of the Civil Service of the Federation from 1986- 1988, Dr. Buka Usman, ex-Permanent Secretary, in the Presidency between 1988-1999 and Mallam El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State, recently in Kaduna, on the occasion of the 8th Annual Conference of the National Assembly and State Legislative Service Commissions, descended on the statutory independence of the legislature in Nigeria. While Fika and Usman called for the abrogation of the NASC, El-Rufai queried the establishment of such agency like the NASC, saying Nigeria did not need the duplication of agencies. The summary of the views of the above personalities clearly revealed their parochial disposition to the independence of the legislature in Nigeria. It is because past civilian and military governments in Nigeria made every efforts to rubbish, humiliate and destroy the development of the legislature in Nigeria, even after Nigeria’s return to democratic in May 1999, that necessitated the strenuous, but courageous establishment of the National Assembly Act in 2004, before it finally gave way to the amended Act of 2014, which is now operational.
To say that the NASC should never have come into existence, in the first place is most desperate, retrogressive, and barbaric. And as a trained mediator, conciliator, rights activist and commentator on contemporary national and international issues, it will be a disservice to my fatherland to fold my hands while some individuals try to rubbish glaring constitutional facts regarding the independence of the legislature in Nigeria. The legislature is a deliberative body of persons, usually elected, who are empowered to make, change, or repeal the laws of a country, or state, the branch of government having the power to make laws, as distinguished from the executive and judicial branches. What makes the legislature distinct from other arms of government, that eventually led to be birth of the National NASC? The legislature is saddled with the power to debate on all issues and pass laws that are implemented and interpreted by the executive and the judicial arms. The legislature is a product of the mass action of the electorate in whom sovereign power reside. The legislature has oversight power, it has the authority to monitor implementation of legislation.
The most unique responsibility of the legislature is that it represents the collective will of the people, as the various constituents units are represented. How would the independence of the legislature be adequately safeguarded under the unified Federal Civil Service Commission in Nigeria? The greatest thing that has come positively to the legislature in Nigeria is the NASC, which is empowered to reposition it for effective independence and service delivery. The NASC is charged with the responsibility of undertaking appointments, promotion and discipline of workforce the National Assembly, according to Section 6 (2) of the revised National Assembly Act, 2014. Therefore, it is funny and incomprehensible when commentators simply ignore the sacredness and the independence of the legislature. Looking at the power of the Clerk to the National Assembly, who has power according to the National Assembly Act, to recommend the appointments of Secretaries to the Directorates’, who are more or less Permanent Secretaries, in the bureaucracy of the National Assembly. The Clerk to the National Assembly is a coordinating Clerk, he coordinates the affairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
To put it clearly, the Clerk of the Senate and that of the House of Representatives report to the Clerk to the National Assembly. The importance and centrality of the Clerk in the management of the National Assembly, make the drafters of the 1999 Construction to acknowledge the office. According to Section 51 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria::”There shall be a Clerk to the National Assembly and such other staff as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly, and the method of appointment of the Clerk and other staff of the National Assembly shall be as prescribed by that Act” According to the 1999 Construction: “An Act of the National Assembly”, what other fanstatic evidence do the enemies of independence of the Legislature in Nigeria, want to see or hear, for it was an ‘Act of the National Assembly’ that brought about the NASC?
Taking into cognisance, the omnipotent of the NASC, in the scheme of things, Section 158, of the 1999 Constitution, makes the independence of the Legislature explicitly clear, concerning appointments of Secretaries to the Directorates’ and other staff thus:”ln excercising its power to make appointments or excercise disclplinary control over persons, the Code of Conduct Bureau, the National Judicial Council, the Federal Civil Service Commission, the Federal Judicial Service Commission, the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission, the Federal Character Commission, and the Independent National Electoral Commission shall not be subject to the direction or control of other authority or person” So the NASC is sacrosanct, it is on its own, not answerable to the FCSC, nor subject to any ‘direction’ from any body, just like the Constitutionally itemized agencies in ‘Section 158’. At a time such as this, when the NASC is being gingered by stakeholders, to do more to place the Legislature in Nigeria, more in tune with what is obtainable in the name of international best practices, it is regrettable, most unfortunate and highly disheartening that the enemies of the Legislature are trying frantically, to draw the hand of the clock of progress backwards.
Martha Craven Nussbaum, a celebrated American Professor of law and philosopher, was adequately in order, when she wrote that:” the idea of autonomy has become very precious”, for the Legislature.
- Nowinta is a rights activist
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