X-raying 2018 top agenda of the Senate

Group Politics Editor, Taiwo Adisa, examines the key issues before the Senate of the Federal Republic in 2018.

YEAR 2018 coincides with the completion of the third session of the 8th Senate. The third session is usually critical in the life of a legislature as it incidentally also coincides with the period of elections rituals. In drama, it’s a sort of denouement. By the beginning of the Fourth Session, lawmakers would have known their fate as to who returns to the next Assembly and who has been dropped. As a result of the conglomeration of activities that are packed into the second half of the third session, things usually start on a frenetic pace.

The current Senate is set to kick off its assignments on January 16, even though the standing committees would have resumed for consideration of the

2018 budget on January 9. And a flurry of issues are already awaiting the attention of the lawmakers. Certainly, the Red Chamber is sure to kick off from the spot it stopped in 2017 and the lawmakers are set to unfold some quick steps to keep pace with the crucial legislative year.

Passage of Budget 2018

The 2018 budget proposals were submitted to the National Assembly on November 7, 2017. That looks like an early date compared to December date the ritual was done in 2016. But that is also tricky as the executive failed to submit the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) in good time ahead of the budget.

According to the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, the MTEF/FSP were to be submitted for passage well before the budget. The passage of the documents would then guide the executive in preparing the budget proposals for the New Year. But the President Muhammadu Buhari administration merely forwarded the MTEF to the lawmakers late October and then prepared the budget based on its own projections. It meant that much work is being placed on the laps of the lawmakers. They are to determine the budget parameters and then calculate the budget on those parameters.

It therefore should not come as a surprise that the National Assembly could not pass the budget in December as being clamoured by the Minister of Finance. Indeed the budget defence sessions have not gone halfway when the year ended. The two chambers of the Assembly have resolved to restart the budget defence sessions at the committee stage from January 9, while plenary would resume a week after.  Can the lawmakers pass the budget within the remainder of January 2018? Very doubtful, as many of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were accused of undue delay in appear in before the Committees in December. If the trend continues, the budget may still be on the table up to the end of the first quarter of 2018.

Constitution Amendment

Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who has been chairman of Constitution amendment Committee since the 6th Senate recently gave an indication that the National Assembly was determined to fast track the passage of the constitution alteration bills, this time.

The two chambers of the National Assembly although jettisoned the joint committee procedure, which would have seen the two chambers operate a common team, still find ways to collaborate in the amendment process. The two chambers in July last year passed the amendment clauses through the third reading and the job is now left for the State Assemblies to handle.

Early in the year, Ekweremadu admonished the state assemblies to act in national interest by passing the critical components of the constitution alteration bills. The Deputy Senate President in his New Year message endorsed by his Media Adviser, Uche Anichukwu, urged the state assemblies to act in national interest while voting on the constitution amendment document.

He said: “Currently before the State Assemblies are bills for compulsory saving of 10 per cent of revenues paid into the Federation Account and which must not be tampered with for at least five years in order to build a saving culture for rainy days, reduction of the period within which a President or Governor may authorise the withdrawal of monies from the Consolidated Revenue Fund in absence of an Appropriation Act or budget from six to three months, a uniform tenure of three years for Local Government Councils, financial autonomy for State Assemblies as well as abrogation of State Joint State Local Government Account and establishment of a Consolidated State Revenue Fund from which the Assemblies and Local Governments would directly access their funds.

“Others include a 30-day time frame from the day of inauguration within which the President or Governor must submit the names of ministerial or commissioner nominees to the National Assembly or State Assemblies along with their proposed portfolios, independent candidacy, reduction of age qualification for the office of the President from 40 years to 35 years, reduction of the age qualification for the offices of House of Representatives and State Assembly from 35 to 25, and setting a timeframe for the determination of pre-election matters, among other critical electoral reforms.

“We also transmitted to the state assemblies bills for the establishment of the office of the Accountant-General of the Federal Government separate from office of the Accountant-General of the Federation as well as amendments to grant financial autonomy to the offices of the Auditor-General of the Federation and Auditor-General of the States by placing them on first-line charge of the Consolidated Revenue funds of the Federation and of the States, respectively.

“These and other proposed amendments, some of which also border on judicial reforms, already passed by the National Assembly, are critical to the future, good governance, and development of the country. Therefore, I can only enjoin our colleagues at the State

Assemblies to follow their conscience and act in national interest.” Critical components of the constitution alteration bill including provision for independent candidates, local government autonomy, State Assembly autonomy among others could alter the preparations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) if the provisions sail through the State Assemblies.

Electoral Act amendment

In June 2017, the Senate Committee on INEC completed its work on the 2010 electoral Act amendment bill. The bill proposes serious changes to the electoral setting of the country as it seeks to validate independent candidacy and the Card Reader. The Supreme Court had in ruling of series of election petitions against some governorship candidates ruled that violations to the Card Reader cannot be counted as an offence in the electoral process since the Card Reader was not recognised by the Electoral Act.

The Senate’s version of the Electoral amendment bill is therefore proposing a number of changes to accommodate the Card Reader, independent Candidacy and electronic voting. While the Senate has passed the amendment bill, the House of Representatives is being awaited to do the same. Though the two chambers promised to complete work on the document early enough, it is almost becoming certain that the document would come in at the last minute as usual.

Sources in the polity are however indicating that some forces who are not disposed to the passage of a new law before the next general election might be deliberately slowing down the green chamber from speedily passing the amendment. If the bill is not passed in good time, the nation might have to make do with the 2010 Electoral Act, which has proved the most enduring so far.

Petroleum Industry and Governance Bill (PIGB)

The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB remained the longest standing legislation in the National Assembly. It made its way to the chambers in 2008 and still remained unpassed in 2018. The current Assembly devised a way out of the logjam by rebranding the bill Petroleum Industry and Governance Bill(PIGB) especially at the level of the of the Senate. How far has that helped? The Senate broke the law into four components and decided to pass each segment as a separate law, which would later get harmonised into a single PIGB.  So far the chamber has passed one of the segments through the Third and final reading, while the other components are still at the Committee levels in the Senate.

In the House of Representatives, the bill is taken as one and is still at the Committee stage. Whether the lawmakers would be able to see through this all-important bill remains to be seen. Last September, while speaking on the bill, Senate President Bukola Saraki said that the Senate gave Nigeria an anniversary package by passing the Governance side of the PIGB into law on May 25.

Saraki, who spoke at the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Research and Development Fair and Conference 2017 organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, said that the PIB has been in the National Assembly since 2008 adding that the 6th and 7th National Assemblies could not pass the bill.

The four components the bills were divided into include the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill; Petroleum Industry Administration Bill; Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill and Petroleum Host Community Bill.

The Senate President, who spoke at the conference through the Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), Senator Tayo Alasoadura, said that the PIGB would enhance the establishment of rules and regulations as well as procedures and institutions for the efficient administration of the petroleum sector.

He said: “This bill establishes the legal and regulatory framework, institutions and regulatory authorities for the Nigerian petroleum industry. It also stipulates deadline for operations in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors.

“Given the high expectations for the PIB and the long controversy that had surrounded the passage of the bill for over a decade, we needed to break it into four parts to enable its passage into law within the short time frame we have. “We expect the report from the committees in no distant time and hope to pass the bills into law within the next quarter.”

Ever since, the Senate and the House have continued to give assurances that the bill would become law in the life of this administration. Whether that would be achievable between now and June this year is left to be seen.

Confirmation in the Senate

The Senate has practically ‘downed tools’ on this issue since April 2017, following the two week suspension of plenary on the continued stay in office of Ibrahim Magu as Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The Senate had twice rejected Magu in December 2016 and March 2017, but the executive has continued to retain him as Acting Chairman of the EFCC. The executive is apparently relying on submissions of some lawyers who has argued that confirmation of EFCC boss was superfluous as according to them Section 171 of the Constitution allows the President to appoint heads of extra-ministerial departments. The senate suspended sitting in April last year to enable its President dialogue with President Muhammadu Buhari on the issue. Nothing concrete however emanated from the discussion. In fact, the executive had threatened to file a suit at the Supreme Court to determine the status of Section 171 of the 1999 Constitution in relation to the enabling Acts if the Extra-Ministerial Departments like EFCC.

The ding dong between the executive and the legislature over that matter remains in the works as none of the parties have approached the court.

Probes and Investigations

The Senate embarked on a number of investigative hearings and probes in the outgone year. The chamber is not about to relent in that task.

At the twilight of 2017, the Red Chamber investigated the 215 Kaduna Power Plant, which it declared must be saved from becoming a “white elephant project.” That hearing exposed some shady dealings in the Ministry of Power and attempt to lure the country into paying over N146 million per day for diesel to power only one of the eight units, while abandoning gas, which the plant was designed for. The investigation has become one of the most revealing in the history of the Senate with lawmakers taking turns to lambast Ministry officials.

In its early days, the Senate had also investigated the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which it claimed was about to cost the country some N25 billion in 2016. The investigation ensured the review of some operations of the TSA, especially as it relates to commission to stakeholders.

Maina Probe

The Senate had chosen to undertake a secret probe of the Abdulrasheed Maina saga since it broke late in 2017. It was a different kettle in the House of Representatives which made its investigations open. But the Senate still has a number of questions to answer the public as regards some of the documents submitted to its committees by the Attorney General of the Federation(AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), which detailed some interactions between the AGF and the wanted pension chief.

The Maina Saga had hit the nation like a bolt from the blues last year as online media outfits confirmed his secret return to the country and promotion to the level of Director. Most of the officials of government named in the saga had denied their involvement but the intervention by the National Assembly had exposed the dirty deals around the Mainagate. How far the Senate would go with the report is to be awaited especially as reports indicated that the AGF had instituted a legal action seeking to stop the Senate from investigating the issue.

DSS Vs EFCC

Another of the probe embarked upon by the Senate is the face-off between the EFCC and the Department of State Services (DSS) as well as the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). The EFCC had sought to arrest the former Directors-General of the DSS and NIA in Abuja, leading to threats of violence and face off among the agencies. The face-off, which lasted nearly 24 hours brought life to standstill in Asokoro area of Abuja. The senate has instituted a probe into the development and the report is being awaited.

The Senate is more or less a moving train when probes and investigations are concerned. From Tuesday, January 16 when the lawmakers would resume plenary, more probes are sure to join the pending matters.