Tracking the 8th Senate

NIGERIA’s 8th Senate, going by the postulations of some political merchants, was the country’s worst. In this essay, I set out to debunk this fallacy, pointing out why it must in fact be regarded as perhaps the best since the return to civil rule in 1999. By implication, Dr. Bukola Saraki, the man that this government loves to persecute, easily towers higher than his predecessors. In performing this task I am not unaware of the fact that this is a season dictated by the rustle of currency notes and muted voices in critical quarters, but at no time has enabling an irredeemably corrupt and pretentious government held any appeal for me. And so here we go. The 8th Senate led by Saraki was hobbled by executive lawlessness and internal strife, yet it succeeded in recording landmarks almost in every area of note. Saraki, Nigeria’s Number Three man, was treated like a common criminal, paraded before the courts on corruption charges that the government failed to prove, right up till the Supreme Court which sounded the death knell on the government’s comedy. But the babies are still caressing their toys.

Saraki’s residence and that of his deputy  were invaded by the police in order to facilitate a coup against the legislature. Indeed, the Senate was invaded in broad daylight and its symbol of authority, the mace, carted away by hoodlums allegedly led by the current Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege. The Nigeria Police not only refused to investigate the matter: it claimed that it would require 10 years to probe that act of treason. In serious climes, a man like Omo-Agege surely would be nowhere near the Senate, but these are perilous times, a time when a member of the ruling party would claim on twitter, without batting an eyelid, that “we have conquered all opposition, including the media.” Particularly against the backdrop of the open, undisguised persecution that it suffered, the 8th Senate has to be commended for its landmarks.

It was the 8th Senate that started the practice of televising every Senate plenary session and live-tweeting every activity on the floor.  In April 2017, it passed the Electoral Act No. 6, 2010 (Amendment) Bill 2017 into law. This was to eradicate electoral malpractices and facilitate an easier, more transparent and faster electoral process. Buhari, the apostle  of anti-corruption, is not credited with any such innovation by way of an executive bill. In staying true to the resolve to promote interactivity between the Senate and Nigerians, the 8th Senate organised a host of roundtables and hearings on drugs, education, human trafficking and employment. It announced the first public hearing on the budget for the year 2016. This continued till its exit. It was the 8th Senate that passed the Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Educational Institutions (Prohibition) Bill proposing a jail-term of up to five years but not less than two years for perpetrators. It passed the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill that many love to talk about. Indeed, it holds the record for bills, with 293. The 7th Senate was credited with 128 bills, 6th Senate 72 and the 5th Senate 129. It passed other key bills, but President Muhammadu Buhari declined assent.

• Making our lawmakers work

Some of these are: Electoral Amendment Bill, rejected four times; Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), Bill Seeking to Amend the Constitution for an annual State of the Nation Address by the President; the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Amendment Bill; Immigration (Amendment) Bill; Chartered Institute of Pension Practitioners Bill and Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (Amendment) Bill. We cannot of course forget the Maritime Security Operations Bill, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Bill, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency Bill; Energy Commission (Amendment) Bill, Federal Roads Authority (Establishment) Bill, Transport Commission Bills, Ajaokuta Steel Company Completion Fund Bill, National Housing Fund Bill, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria Bill 2018, Nigerian Aeronautical Search and Rescue Bill, National Biotechnology Development Agency Bill, National Institute of Credit Administration Bill, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria Bill, Chartered Institute of Training and Development of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, Nigerian Film Commission Bill, Climate Change Bill,  Chartered Institute of Pension Practitioners Bill Digital Rights and Freedom Bill, Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill, National Research and Innovation Council (Est.) Bill,  Chattered Institute of Entrepreneurship (Est.) Bill and the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences (Amendment) Bill, among others. They were all rejected for flimsy reasons.

By contrast, President Buhari sent only two executive bills to the legislature in four years, the worst by any president since 1999. These were the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill and the National Minimum Wage Bill. He withdrew what would have been the third, the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act (amendment) Bill, following the in-fighting between the Attorney General and the chairman of the EFCC. I suppose that, too, was Saraki’s fault, as was the refusal to submit the budget in time. Before 2015, no president had ever presented the budget on the floor of the National Assembly without prior consultations with its leadership, but Buhari carried on like a lord of the manor. Yet he has never found the courage to blame himself for the frequent executive-legislature clashes. While serially disobeying court orders, he rated the Senate President and the Speaker “very low on patriotism.” Under his watch, a gang of terrorists masquerading as herdsmen are making life hellish for Nigerians, committing the most horrendous crimes. Buhari went to Benue State and told the grieving people who had just lost 73 souls to the herdsmen’s bestial rage, to “accommodate” their “countrymen.” He came into office for a second term on May 29, but where are his ministers? Perhaps they are being held hostage by Saraki. In any case, Buhari is on record as describing ministers as ‘noisemakers.’

• Dr Awolaja is on the staff of Tribune