The emergence of Mr. Godswill Akpabio and Dr Tajudeen Abbas as President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively, after a predictable but intriguing political exercise, is an indicator that will once again test the democratic quotient of this administration. By deferring to what pundits termed ‘the choice of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,’ the legislators of the 10th National Assembly have raised questions about the implication of this choice to governance in this administration.
In the light of separation of powers, the outcome of the election into the leadership of the legislature is challenged against making the 10th National Assembly a ‘rubber stamp’ legislature that afflicted the last administration. This is notwithstanding the promises of the Senate President and the new Speaker.
While Nigerians are naturally excited about the fast-paced commencement of presidential duties and the deft political manoeuvres that trailed the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, it is important that the lawmakers, as representatives of the people, discharge their responsibilities to their electorates. Given the less-than impressive leadership that characterised the last administration, even though it made modest infrastructural successes, there are high expectations of legislators this time around.
Nigerians expect a unifying, nationally inclusive and vision-casting government; one with vibrant legislative debates and constitutional checks to solve developmental problems. They require conscientious legislators that would reflect soberly and ask: Is Nigeria different from what it was? Has Nigeria fared better? Have we sought out persons who can look into the recommendation of National Assembly committees and turn them into laws? In short Nigeria hopes that those coming are coming to make a difference for the good of a new Nigeria.
One of the criticisms against the Buhari administration is how he was able to use the National Assembly to pursue an incurably nepotistic and insular regime that informed his very myopic outlook about Nigeria. It was evident that the subservience of the Senate president and tact of the then speaker paved the way for an ‘all-powerful’ executive.Will the Akpabio-Abbas leadership be able to contain the feared excesses of a president like Tinubu? While Abbas, a very loyal protégé of the president, is considered to be a brilliant and enviable personality in the mold of former speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, Akpabio has been known to be an all-weather, pro-establishment utility politicians
Nigerians also want to see a more humane and people-centred legislature. No one needs any reminder to know that people are still smarting from traumatising economic and socio-political conditions caused by pre-election policies and election/post-election dramas. The effects of the Central Bank’s cash-strapping policy and the religio-ethnic tension associated with the conduct of the election still linger.
For reasons fuelled by perceptions, which may not necessarily translate into reality, many Nigerians seem to be pessimistic of the mission of the administration; this is hardly surprising given the failed promises of successive administrations including the immediate past government. Coupled with this is the news concerning an intended salary increase for political office holders. If this is true, it would be callous and insensitive of the government when academic staff of federal universities are being owed arrears of salaries and employees of some government establishments are also being owed allowances.
Therefore, the current set of legislators should actively express some compassion for the Nigerian people by taking measures to assuage their tough living conditions; and the lawmakers should not indulge in selfishly allocating perks and allowances to themselves at the expense of other Nigerians they claim to represent. Being public servants, their allowances and jumbo perks should reflect the state of the economy. It would be inhumane to contemplate any such increase in the midst of suffering. They should demonstrate to Nigerians by actions of financial moderation that the National Assembly is not a free-loading station for cravers of unjustified entitlements.
This sacrifice should also extend to the committees they form, be they standing or ad hoc committees. Committees should be pruned to essentials, and should not be formed to compensate members. With 57 Senate standing committees and 89 in the House of Representatives, Nigeria has one of the highest numbers of parliamentary committees in the world. This is a far cry from 22 committees in the United States Congress from where Nigeria borrowed its system of government, or Ghana’s 31 committees, or Senegal with 11, South Africa with 10, Canada 30 and France six.
The bloated size of legislative committees in Nigeria is falsely suggestive that Nigeria is bigger than the U.S., South Africa, France, Canada, on the basis of the committees. Have the Nigerian legislature fared better? Has our National Assembly addressed more oversight issues than these countries on the basis of the bloated parliamentary committees?
In the last eight years, Nigeria’s parliament has not performed among the best globally. Save for a couple of principled legislators and a minority of genuine progressives, the National Assembly has been characterised by many indolent hirelings stationed there as minions of corrupt power.
Notwithstanding the curious optimism that has greeted the fast-paced administration of Tinubu, the litmus test for the overall quality of governance would be determined by how the legislature would engage the executive, and by how legislators would conduct themselves at both plenary sessions and their respective chambers.
To this end, the task of the National Assembly in nation-building is a sacred one; it is one of trust on behalf of the people. This 10th National Assembly should make a difference by repositioning itself as a true legislature that checks the executive and the judiciary. It must disabuse the minds of Nigerians that it is a mafia organisation as some pundits express.
Fortunately, both chambers of the 10th National Assembly are populated by new members, many of whom are from opposition parties and seem to possess the strength of character and requisite intellectual capacity for legislative function. It would be a tragedy for this country if this National Assembly toes the line of the ‘rubber stamp’ parliament of the last administration.
