Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

‘Nigerians need to be educated about the legislature’

By NIYI BELLO
23 October 2015   |   12:21 am
Recess does not mean legislators are on holiday. It does not mean that the National Assembly is shut down. It simply means that we are on recess away from plenary.
Mike Omogbehin

Mike Omogbehin

As the Senate continues the screening of ministerial nominees, Mike Adeniyi Negwo-Omogbehin, a member of the House of Representatives from Irele/Okitipupa federal constituency of Ondo State in this interview with NIYI BELLO said the National Assembly has to do more enlightenment about its functions to change the negative perception of the legislature by the Nigerian public. Excerpts:
Legislatures are not shut down during recess
Recess does not mean legislators are on holiday. It does not mean that the National Assembly is shut down. It simply means that we are on recess away from plenary. The period of the recess is used for part of our parliamentary assignments, it is expected that we should use the period to meet with our constituents.

It is also expected to use it as a period for research and to work on further motions from the issues that have been discussed in the previous sittings in the house, and from the issues that are evolving in Nigeria so that we can be prepared for the next plenary.

Within the short period that we were on recess, I have been to my constituency twice and this is what I expect my colleagues to be doing. Our staffs are in the office, we also need to meet them to collect and collate information that will be used for legislative duties when we resume. So, we will get it wrong if we assume that recess means that the National Assembly is shut down.

National Assembly budget is not bogus
The issue of legislative budget is a very sensitive one in this country and I will not shy away from it. First, we should note that the budget that we are using is the one we inherited from the 7th Assembly. We should also note that the session made a huge sacrifice in the preparation of the budget as it was slashed by over N20 billion.

There is another point we need to get, when we refer to the budget of National Assembly, people think that that is the money the 360 members plus the 109 Senators will spend. That is far from it. Just like we have the Civil Service Commission, we have the National Assembly Service Commission. We have the Institute of Legislative Studies and we also have staffs in the offices. We also have capital project.

The budget of the National Assembly is meant to finance all these projects. They are not meant only for expenditure of the members of the house. We must also put it viz-a-vis the budget of the executive and the judiciary. It is not only the judges that make up the judiciary, as it is not only the president and the ministers that make up the executive. If we look at it in that context we will appreciate that the budget of the National Assembly is not too much.

Secondly, Nigerians will need to sit down and define what we want, democracy is not cheap and most of the time, it is only the legislative arm that is new in government, even when there is no democracy, the executive arm of government runs, without democracy the judiciary is working, we have the judges and the registrars. But each time democracy is disrupted, it is the legislative arm that is disrupted and it simply means that Nigerians over time, are not used to the situation.

Thirdly, when has any arm of government, particularly the legislative arm sat down to do a needs assessment? That is why for the first time Nigerians should give kudos to the leadership of Yakubu Dogara in the House of Representatives, for sitting down as part of our legislative agenda to do a legislative needs assessment to see what are our needs.  To look at the money they said we are taking if it is too much and if it is, how are we spending it. By the time we are through, it will be presented to Nigerians for them to see for themselves whether the budget of the National Assembly is too much, or insufficient.

The call for a federal unicameral legislature
As an individual and a member of the National Assembly, it is beyond me to conclude on the exact type of legislature that Nigeria needs. People who sat down to adopt a presidential and bicameral systems must have taken into consideration a lot of factors, one of which is the size of the country and the diversity of its people. They may have concluded that having two houses that will be able to look at issues from different angles is better for us. It is not just the cost of running the legislative arm that should be considered.

For instance, many Nigerians don’t know that an American congressman, just after four years, is entitled to pension for the rest of his life, provided he has attained the pension age. The Nigerian legislator is not entitled to that. We don’t also take into consideration the cultural differences. When a member of congress in America visits his constituency, the best he does is to sign autograph and move around but you cannot do that in Nigeria

If we are looking at the cost, we must also look at the opportunity cost, that is, if we are not doing it what are the consequences. For instance there is the danger in us making mistakes. That is why I said we need to sit down, experts will need to take a second look at it, but in taking a second look, the emphasis must not be just on the financial implications. The emphasis must also be on the opportunity cost of what we may have if we do not operate a bicameral system of parliament.

The wrong impression about legislators’ salaries
It is good when one speaks from outside the system, but when you wear the shoes it is a different ball game entirely. I am wearing the shoes now and that is why I said by the time we are through with the average needs assessment of a lawmaker or the entire legislative arm of government, it will be presented to Nigerians and those who have different opinions will see. But when you talk about salary, it is laughable when people talk about allowances that do not exist.

Sometimes ago, Nigeria was agog with stories about wardrobe allowance; I do not see wardrobe allowance as part of my allowances. I also read recently that we collected recess allowance. This is also strange to me. Most of the time, Nigerians speak about things that do not exist. Again, we are good at doing comparative analysis. We always compare what obtained in some other countries with that of Nigeria.

The best we do as parliamentarians is that each year, we submit what we want to be done for our people as constituency projects. These will be given to the Ministries, Departments and Agencies under the executive arm and they will only implement it subject to availability of funds. At the end of the day, the member will be held responsible for not impacting on the people. Nigerians should be educated, they should know what to blame us for and what not to blame us for. We are however coming close to it with the present leadership of the National Assembly.

No two houses, no two congresses across the world have similar factors, if we want to compare the Nigerian parliament to the American congress, we must be able to compare in totality. For instance, many Nigerians don’t know that an American congressman, just after four years, is entitled to pension for the rest of his life, provided he has attained the pension age. The Nigerian legislator is not entitled to that. We don’t also take into consideration the cultural differences. When a member of congress in America visits his constituency, the best he does is to sign autograph and move around but you cannot do that in Nigeria. These are some cultural analysis and comparison that we need to do to appreciate what is happening.

Misinformation about constituency projects
There is also the erroneous impression about constituency projects. People believe that as a member of parliament you are giving certain money to do constituency projects. In Kenya, every parliamentarian is given 1 million United Kingdom pounds every year to run constituency project and the executive arm has a monitoring unit that will monitor execution. This makes the parliamentarians have one-on-one relationship with their constituency, but that is not what obtained in Nigeria. The best we do as parliamentarians is that each year, we submit what we want to be done for our people as constituency projects.

These will be given to the Ministries, Departments and Agencies under the executive arm and they will only implement it subject to availability of funds. At the end of the day, the member will be held responsible for not impacting on the people. Nigerians should be educated, they should know what to blame us for and what not to blame us for. We are however coming close to it with the present leadership of the National Assembly.

0 Comments