By Emeka Ihedioha
Perhaps this forum offers a platform to emphasize that following from the power sharing formula between the North and South in the 2nd Republic, the PDP, which won the 1999 elections, was expected to zone the Senate Presidency to the North but the newly elected President, at the time in his wisdom (which I don't want to fault), zoned the Senate Presidency to Dr. Alex Ekwueme, a South Easterner whom he defeated in the party primaries.
However, Ekwueme declined on the basis of honour but rather recommended Senator Onyeabo Obi, a 2nd Republic Senator who was not even a candidate in the elections, but the complications arising from the refusal of Dr. Nnamdi Eriobuna, who had won the Anambra South Senatorial seat on the platform of the ruling PDP, to step down and pave the way for Onyeabo Obi frustrated this project.
Consequently, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, from the same Anambra State, became the obvious and popular choice of both the PDP and South East, for the coveted seat. However, the desire of the Executive to exercise total control over the Legislature led to the imposition of leadership in the two chambers of the National Assembly against the preferences of majority of members.
It will be recalled that Dr. Okadigbo had, prior to the inauguration of the National Assembly in 1999, been adopted for Senate Presidency by the caucus of the PDP which was the majority party in the National Assembly. But through acts of subterfuge, the Executive infiltrated the ranks of the Senators-elect, used a splinter group of the PDP caucus and members of the opposition parties (APP and AD) to frustrate the choice of Dr. Okadigbo as Senate President. Instead, the Executive propped up Chief Evan Enwerem and rallied support to him, thereby enthroning him as the President of the Senate contrary to popular expectations. With this development, the seed of discord and instability was sown in the National Assembly.
The Buhari – NaÀbba – Etteh era
The House of Representatives similarly witnessed a crisis of leadership which also had its origin in the meddlesomeness of the Executive. The undisguised and open support by the Executive for Hon. Salisu Buhari compelled other major contenders for the post of speaker like Hon. Farouk Lawan and Hon. Sadiq Yar'Adua to step-down their ambitions, thus paving the way for the emergence of Buhari. But due diligence was not conducted on his background and that eventually proved costly.
Both Enwerem and Buhari were eventually removed. In the Senate, Okadigbo replaced Enwerem while Hon. Ghali Na'Abba emerged in the House of Representatives in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the majority of the members. The crises of leadership in the National Assembly, however, could not go away because of the dangerous seed of discord that had been sown at inception.
The musical chair continued in the Senate with very high leadership turn-over. In the House, several attempts were made to remove Na'Abba from office, but he managed to stay on till the end of his tenure. The instability in the House continued during the era of Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, the first female Speaker.
Her emergence also had its root in the interference of the Executive in the affairs of the House. In the crisis that ensued, she was forced to resign. These series of crises which were as a result of the combination of external interference and the relative inexperience of the legislature at inception (which had its roots in the prolonged military domination of the political process) were mainly responsible for the initial public misconception and misperception of the legislature.
Legislature as the bulwark of democracy
In my introduction, I identified the basic roles of the legislature to include law making, representation and oversight.
Beyond these, the legislature carries out many other important functions in our polity which are intended to promote good governance and development.
Investigative roles
The legislature, in a democracy, has the sole constitutional power to conduct investigations into any agency of government with a view to exposing corruption and correcting any lapses in the conduct of public policy. This power is enjoyed under Section 88 of the Constitution as amended.
In carrying out its investigative roles, the National Assembly can summon any person in Nigeria "to give evidence at any place or produce any document or other thing in his possession or under his control, and examine him as a witness, subject to all just exceptions".
Public petitions:
The National Assembly, through its Committees on Public Petitions, has the constitutional mandate to receive and enquire into public petitions and complaints brought to its attention. In the last 12 years of our democratic experiment, many of such petitions and complaints have been received and conclusively addressed by both chambers of the National Assembly. This is one of the representative functions of the National Assembly.
Power of appropriation:
Under its lawmaking role, the National Assembly is saddled with the power of appropriation. Perhaps, this is the single-most important function of the legislature under our Constitution. The power of appropriation is conferred on the legislature by Section 81 of the Constitution as amended. Under this section, no money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or other public funds of the Federation without the authorization of the National Assembly.
(http://vml1.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Ihedioha.jpg?9d7bd4) (http://www.vanguardngr.com/?attachment_id=291873)Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha Much of the influence which the legislature enjoys in the polity is derived essentially from its power of appropriation which it has effectively deployed with regard to the siting of government projects and infrastructure.
However, no one is in doubt today why the budget was never funded in spite of our huge infrastructural deficits.
We believe that going forward; the Nigerian public will take a more sympathetic interest in the huge efforts we put up in the nation building process.
Our circumstance is not helped by the skepticism that has been the lot of the legislature, given many years of military domination of our polity. Some persons still see us as meddlesome; a burdensome institution and, in some cases, an overweight in the democratic project. Going forward, we should be assessed by the savings we make for the nation as the fear of our inquisition has now become the cure of executive recklessness.
Holding government accountable
The legislature, through its oversight functions, holds the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) accountable to the public. Since it has the responsibility to appropriate and allocate funds to the various government institutions for their operations, it naturally follows that the legislature must oversee these institutions to ensure that the public get value for their money and also ensure that these institutions are run in accordance with the laws of the land.
Power of confirmation
The legislature also has the sole power under the constitution to screen and confirm nominees for appointment into the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) and other federal executive bodies.
The legislature also approves government nominees for ambassadorial postings. This power is exclusively performed by the Senate. There are however some exceptions in which the concurrence of the House of Representatives is required. For example the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act, 2000 requires the Senate to consult with the House of Representatives in the confirmation of nominees into NDDC Governing Board.
Conflict mediation and resolution
The legislature also has the added responsibility of conflict mediation and resolution. I can testify that in this area, the legislature has established an enviable record of performance. For instance, since 1999 the legislature has positively intervened and settled several government – labour disputes, be it over minimum wage, ASUU demands for better conditions of service in the universities or most recently, the fuel subsidy crisis.
Leadership recruitment
The legislature performs the functions of political recruitment and leadership development. The parliament has over time served as major channels of recruitment, providing a pool of talent from which leading decision makers emerge (PARP: 2010: 16). For example, this is evident in the number of legislators that have moved up the political ladder in our country today.
Protection of the interests of the people
EAs the representatives of the people, our responsibility is, primarily, to protect and defend the interests and rights of our constituents. Much more importantly, as the true representatives of the people, we also ensure that the dividends of democracy are attracted to our respective constituencies to serve the best interests of our people. We also assist them in getting job placements.
The public misconception of the legislature
The legislature is a highly misunderstood institution in our country today. Because it is misunderstood as a result of what I call crisis of expectations, it has also become highly maligned even by those who should know better. Most often, people confuse the roles of the executive with that of the legislature.
The doctrine of separation of powers, which assigns different responsibilities to different arms of government, does not seem to make any sense to most Nigerians who expect the Nigerian legislator to provide roads, schools, bridges, markets, hospitals, electricity, water, etc, in the community, even when this does not fall within the schedule of the legislature. The provision of such social infrastructure falls within the ambit of executive functions. We only appropriate the money for the Executive to provide these infrastructures.
But most often, our constituents including the enlightened ones believe that an elected representative is empowered with resources to provide public infrastructure. This is one of the many misconceptions which have continued to dog the legislature.
This brings me to the question of the running costs of each legislator in the National Assembly which has been highly misconceived by the public. It is from the money budgeted for running costs that every member of the House meets his obligations to his office in the National Assembly and the constituency office back at home.
For instance as the Deputy Speaker, I must attend social and community functions of my colleagues like burials, weddings, turbanning ceremonies, thanksgiving services, birthday celebrations etc. I also have security aides and assistants attached to my office who must travel with me on official engagements. In addition, we are entitled to consultants who research on our Bills and Motions. The vehicles with which we travel all the times on constituency visits also need to be regularly maintained.
All these activities are funded from official running costs which can hardly subsist. But the erroneous impression created in public opinion is that these are slush funds for members of the National Assembly. Some even erroneously call it allowances. Nothing can be further from the truth!
7th House of Representatives and the experience at the consolidation of our democracy:
The 7th House of Representatives was inaugurated on 6th June, 2011 with Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and my humble self overwhelmingly elected the Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively. Against the background of recurrent leadership crises in the National Assembly, the seeds of which were sown in 1999 as I noted earlier, the crop of men and women elected into the 7th House of Representatives decided to chart a different but refreshing path for the House by seeking to enthrone the leadership of their choice, away from any political interference.
The new legislative agenda:
One of the first decisions we took when we came on board was the designing of a New Legislative Agenda to guide the House in the conduct of its proceedings and its engagement with the polity. I chaired the Ad-hoc Committee on the New Legislative Agenda. After several weeks of brainstorming and intellectual introspections, the Committee finally came up with a draft Legislative Agenda which was presented to the House for deliberations.
The document was thoroughly debated by Honourable members who hailed it as the legislative compass of the 7th House of Representatives. It was subsequently adopted, having been further enriched with new perspectives from our colleagues. The new Legislative Agenda encapsulates the vision and aspirations of the House Leadership in charting a different but refreshing path for the House in the process of nation building.
The legislature and Constitution making
Our grundnorm, the Constitution, confers on the Legislature at federal and state levels the powers to alter the Constitution. Indeed, section 9(2) of the 1999 Constitution provides for this. The powers conferred on the Legislature to amend the Constitution can however only be exercised with popular participation and support in order for it to win legitimacy.
In 2010, the Legislature, for the first time in Nigeria's history, achieved a broad amendment of multiple sections of the 1999 Constitution. The amendments addressed popular agitations and pressures from Nigerians for the reform of the electoral process. These amendments helped achieve the improved elections conducted by INEC in 2011.
With the inauguration of the Seventh National Assembly, there have been pressures for even wider and more ground-breaking amendments of the Constitution to reflect demands for greater fiscal responsibility, devolution of powers, fiscal federalism, citizenship rights, and land use reform. The Legislature has started the process of amending the Constitution. We intend however that the process must be inclusive and participatory.
A new partnership with the media
We in the House of Representatives appreciate the need for a robust engagement with the media in order to deepen the values of democratic governance in our country. We see the media as a major partner in our collective aspirations to enthrone the culture of transparency and accountability in the conduct of public policy.
We need the media to build our democracy. And democracy cannot thrive without free speech and free press. We do recognize the enormous responsibility imposed on the media by Section 22 of the Constitution as amended which empowers it to hold government accountable to the people.
Conclusion
The Legislature occupies a central role in any democratic framework. While there can be government without the legislature, there can be no democracy without the legislature. Therefore, for our democracy to thrive, the legislature as a major institution of representative governance must be strengthened. I call on the general public to do away with the misconceptions and misperceptions in which they have continued to hold the legislature. The misconceptions, which are without any basis, have continued to affect negatively the public image of the legislature. CONCLUDED
Being extracts from a paper presented by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, at a public lecture organised by the Department of Political Science, University of Lagos.
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