A typical Nigerian legislator would take advantage of any occasion, whether public or private, to demand recognition and respect from the community. The claim made by the lawmaker is based on the justification that, among all the branches of government, the legislature is the best representation of democracy because it frequently suffers the least damage when autocrats violently seize power. Therefore, the argument goes, lawmakers are the only true representatives of the people. But if the truth must be told, the majority of Nigerians are not happy with either the way their purported real representatives conduct themselves in public or on a daily basis. However, the focus of this article is on federal lawmakers because, at the state level, Nigeria lacks legislators and instead relies on special assistants to state governors for legislative matters.
Considering that the 10th National Assembly was only sworn in five days ago, some might think it is unfair to criticise lawmakers who have yet to get down to business at the start of the new legislative year. While it makes sense to give them time to adjust before analysts start shining any sort of spotlight on them, many of the members aren’t actually new. In fact, this is a good time to point out the subtle differences between legislators in developed democracies and those in developing societies, whose priorities should be elevating the standard of living of their citizens through rapid national development.
The best time to ask those regarded as high-ranking Nigerian legislators is now so they won’t influence newcomers’ minds. This is due to the numerous detrimental events that have taken place in our National Assembly in the past. Additionally, what Nigerians have seen of their lawmakers over the past month confirms that things will likely continue as usual. First, in violation of our constitution’s provisions, the executive branch of government hand-picked the people who would serve as presiding officers, making it clear that the 10th Assembly might be more of a rubber stamp than its immediate predecessor.
Why was it necessary to make a leadership selection process that the constitution specifically intended to be internal to the legislature available to the entire world? Why did our lawmakers spend millions of naira on national advertising, including media placements, to reach out to those of us who were eligible to vote? What message did the nation receive from the process’ commercialization? Could those involved in such a wealth display have wished to provide assistance without recovering their enormous costs? Since many members of minor parties reportedly negotiated to join “lucrative” committees before supporting the executive’s chosen candidates, logical answers to these questions can easily demonstrate that we are not about to see a different type of legislators.
Senators-elect may have been duped by both the winner and the loser of the election, according to the senator who lost the senate president election to the executive candidate’s candidate. It might be simple to understand the executive’s motivations if they were attempting to prevent the installation of opposition presiding officers who might subvert the will of the ruling party through mischief. But when every candidate belonged to the same ruling party, such interest became incomprehensible. As a result, few people understood the executive’s desperate attempt to install “friendly” presiding officers. Irrational requests, like those for large loans, are approved without being carefully considered. Or, to put it another way, does the executive branch not intend to run a transparent and reliable governance system, which calls for legislative cooperation?
Interestingly, events over the past 8 years have demonstrated that having a so-called friendly legislature is not in the executive’s best interests. For instance, during the final four years of President Buhari’s presidency, the president grew so enraged by the legislature’s exploitative attitude that he had to scream in protest over what he called the latter’s “worrisome changes” to annual budgets. At one point, the budget contained as many as 6, 576 new insertions that had not previously been discussed by the relevant members of the executive and legislature. It was discovered that many of the inserted items did not fit within the parameters of a federal budget. Additionally, it was found that about 500 items totaling at least N380 billion were duplicates. Buhari must have suddenly understood how challenging it would be to take on a “friendly” legislature. Therefore, the new story of reliable friends goes against what has been learned from the past.
Additionally, the National Assembly didn’t appear to be aware that Nigerians were not impressed. In the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic, lawmakers took very little or no action to aid Nigerians. Additionally, they did nothing about legislators’ hoarding of palliatives and their efforts to keep them out of the hands of the general public. Nobody helped the rural populace during the disastrous new naira policy by setting up temporary financial structures to ease their suffering in areas devoid of banks. All pro-women legislation was also rejected by the male-dominated legislature. Those in high political positions should not ignore these particular characteristics of a developing society.
Unfortunately, our legislators continued to be self-serving, just like their predecessors. The legislature granted itself immunity and started an investigation into and a campaign of intimidation against officials of all other government institutions implicated in the auditor’s report when the Auditor-General of the Federation finally mustered the courage to reveal irregularities and illegal expenditures in government. Nobody was informed of the financial scandals detailed in the National Assembly report until it was too late. However, the House of Representatives was specifically indicted for spending over N5.2 billion at various points on a number of incomplete projects, as well as N258 million in advances given to 59 employees who never retired. Will the new House be able to recover these funds to increase revenue for construction?
This time, it is important to inform the public of the conditions and restrictions governing the cordial relationship between the executive and the legislature. The legislature must shed its toga of constructive timidity and become more attentive to its constitutional obligations if it is to promote collaborative federalism. For instance, the senate has the authority to confirm certain nominees before they are given the go-ahead to take office. Maintaining a system in which some nominees are asked to ‘bow and go’ is a dereliction of duty because everyone should be thoroughly vetted and found suitable before being cleared. There is currently no law in Nigeria that gives senators the authority to disqualify a nominee that the law specifies needs to be approved.
The project Nigeria to which both should be committed would remain a mirage if the legislature did not help its friend, the executive, to appoint only fit and proper people into offices. The Senate should demand that the nominees for the positions to be filled go with them in order to ensure a more diligent performance. This is neither unfavourable nor hard to accept. If not, the hateful, outdated blind clearance system will never succeed in its goal. The number of unqualified candidates the executive naughtily inserted into the otherwise impartial INEC, and which the senate defiantly cleared, was a major factor in the contentious general election we had earlier in the year.
Can the 10th Assembly guarantee that it won’t do so in order to be friendly with the
