Legislature is a major building block of democracy. KUNLE ODEREMI takes looks at the two-day retreat held for senators, especially on the review and resetting a pragmatic plan of action based on national needs.
CONSTITUTIONAL democracy such as the one existing in Nigeria rests on a tripod: executive, legislature and the judiciary. Even though by the principle of the separation of powers, they are required to act independent of one another, such independence is never absolute to guarantee seamless running of government. The constitution states their individual powers and limitations; the legislature ensures checks and balance on the executive through oversight functions.
But the National Assembly tends to come more under public scrutiny and searchlight because of the express mandate of the members from well-defined and delineated constituencies. This calls for pragmatic programme of action by the legislature, retooling and review of such agenda in order to be sync with the yearnings and aspirations of the citizens, who constitute the popular sovereignty.
A couple of days ago, a three-day retreat for senators in the 10th Assembly held in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State. It provided the opportunity for the upper chamber of the National Assembly to rest the needle for a new dawn. Beyond conviviality, the forum afforded all the principal officers and other persons to dissect and design, a realistic and progressive agenda. Thus, the Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele proposed strategic collaboration between the Federal Executive Council and National Assembly as one of the strategies to squarely tackle protracted national challenges. The success of the 2023 retreat was underscored by the fact the participants engaged frank discourses under the theme, “Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms in Nigeria.” The retreat explicitly delved into diverse issues that placed Nigerians under undue socio-economic burdens in the last two decades. Conscious of the contemporary realities in the country, the participants were focused in the quest to address nagging national challenges. For the president of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, it is a forum for building capacity, which every legislator requires to function effectively.
Facilitated by the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies, Akpabio set the stage for the retreat, where resource persons freely shared divergent views about many challenges confronting the federation and proposed convergent strategies, which they believed, would restore stability in the country’s macro-economic environment and promote peaceful coexistence if each arm of governments pursues its goals with political will.
Capacity building is just one of the rationales for the parliamentary retreat, according to Akpabio. Besides, the senate president observed that the retreat was designed to develop pro-people legislations that could promote enduring peace; guarantee sustainable development and deepen peaceful co-existence, among all Nigerians, irrespective of their ethnic nationalities and religious leaning.
Thus, apart from senators, members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) attended the retreat to underline apolitical inclination. The list included the Chief of Staff to the President, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Olawale Edun; Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu and deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State Akon Eyakenyi.
All guest speakers and resource persons were unambiguous on the socio-economic realities in the country. So, the preponderance of their submission was the significance of developing creative legislative frameworks in response to the socio-economic realities.
A number of issues emerged based on the submissions and conclusions of the participants. One of such questions was if the retreat was sufficient to activate the consensus, especially at a time of global crises that directly impinge on domestic economies and politics? In his presentation, the Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele set the agenda on how to transform this consensus to reality in nearly all sectors of Nigeria’s economy.
Similarly, for guest speakers, legislative intervention is critical to every initiative directed at making Nigeria an investment destination or ensuring stability in all parts and sectors of the federation. But Bamidele specifically recommended a forum where the executive and legislature would always meet to perfect institutional approaches to addressing vicious challenges that threaten Nigeria. He further delineated the need for such regular sessions, an initiative comparable to quarterly executive-legislative parleys that successive governments in Lagos State have embraced since 1999.
Can such an initiative work at the federal level? Bamidele did not specifically refer to the case of Lagos. But he suggested that such sessions should be held quarterly or biannually. Also, they should be tailored practically at discussing and perfecting coherent and logical responses to a myriad of socio-economic challenges that complicate the conditions of living and undermine the unity of Nigeria.
On this account, Bamidele explained the imperative of holding regular executive-legislative sessions, which other speakers agreed, would open a new vista of strategic collaboration in the overall interest of Nigeria and her teeming population. First, according to him, such sessions will give the National Assembly and Federal Executive Council room to work out modalities of mainstreaming Tinubu’s eight-point agenda into the programmes of the National Assembly.
Second, the Senate Leader believed, such sessions will speed up the process of developing and initiating innovative legislative frameworks that can aid delivery of enviable public services within a short period. Bamidele’s argument is pure and simple. He simply argued that actualising Tinubu’s eight-point agenda “entails the collective responsibilities between the two arms of government rather than unilateral roles of the executive.” As he stressed, this calls for strategic collaboration between ministers and chairmen of all standing committees in the Senate and House Committees. It also calls for legislators to have strategic sessions with the permanent secretaries and chief executives of key federal parastatals with a view to devising approaches to the implementation of the eight-point agenda in national interest.
He clearly mapped diverse challenges that currently beset Nigeria. From the food crisis to intractable insecurity, chronic inflation, Naira devaluation and political instability, Bamidele explained how the eight-point agenda painstakingly sought to address all these challenges. He also explained how legislative interventions “are critical to seamless actualisation of the eight-point agenda.”
Bamidele suggested key areas where the executive and legislature should leverage strategic collaboration “to break the vicious cycle of economic doldrums and political contradictions that have been the woes of Nigeria.” The areas include the need to review the Land Use Act, 1979; strengthen the National Directorate of Employment; embrace true fiscal federalism; diversify the country’s economy and standardise social investments.
Like other senators at the retreat, the senate president utterly agreed with Bamidele on the need to set a common forum for lawmakers and members of the Federal Executive Council, where they would discuss issues of strategic national interest and work out innovative legislative frameworks to those issues that threaten the country’s collective interests. It is time, according to him, to culture a strategic collaboration.
Beyond creating an executive-legislative forum, Akpabio specifically explained the place of the Senate, indeed the entire National Assembly, in establishing “an environment that can guarantee investments and promote harmony among citizenry.” For him, this can only be achieved through enacting innovative legislation and carrying out oversight functions purely in the national interest.
Akpabio was not the only functionary that shared this sentiment. Also, Speaker, House of Representatives, Honourable Abbas Tajudeen and Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin shared the same conviction. Collectively, they emphasised the need not just to betray the expectation of the people that voted them into offices, but rekindle the hope of all Nigerians irrespective of their political leanings.
Nearly all key speakers agreed to this collective aspiration, which they all argued, should be vigorously pursued in order to evolve a new nation. But Akpabio argued that such an aspiration would not be a mere mirage if the National Assembly fails to work with key functionaries in the FEC with a view to mainstreaming Tinubu’s eight-point agenda into the legislative programmes.
With the depth of engagement at the retreat, Edun concluded that a great future “is awaiting Nigeria, though her present challenges may be daunting.” Now that a new vista for strategic collaboration has been opened, Edun observed that both arms of government “are under obligation to work out collective responses to hydra-headed challenges that confront us as a people of common destiny.”
Edun thus acknowledged the centrality of legislative interventions to the implementation of the eight-point agenda. For him, the agenda is well defined and will be wholeheartedly pursued in the overall interest of the people. However, the minister emphasised the role of the National Assembly in implementing the eight-point agenda, which was at the core of Bamidele’s proposal for strategic collaboration between the executive and legislature.
From food security to poverty eradication; growth, job creation; access to capital; inclusion; rule of law; and fighting corruption, Edun agreed that the time has come for both arms of government to synergise on how to methodically and systematically pursue the eight-point agenda in order to bring about desirable outcomes across all sectors.
But does this quest for strategic collaborations suggest the erosion of legislative independence? Stakeholders at the retreat largely disagreed on its possibility of eroding the independence of the National Assembly. Collaboration between both arms, they all admitted, may not in any way turn the legislature to a willing tool in the hands of the executive. Rather, it offers a platform for mainstreaming campaign promises into legislative programmes in the interest of all Nigerians, whether the poor or the rich, the middle class or the vulnerable.
Nigeria’s National Assembly – the 10th since independence – was inaugurated on 13 June 2023. It has two arms: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 109 senators and 360 representatives were elected on 25 February 2023.
Godswill Akpabio was elected Senate president and Tajudeen Abass House of Representatives speaker. Its primary responsibility is lawmaking for effective administration of the state. In Nigeria, the power of the National Assembly’s two houses to legislate is enshrined in section 4 of the 1999 constitution. The constitution also enables the National Assembly to scrutinise and monitor executive activities. Sections 88 and 89 of the constitution set out its the oversight powers. Overseeing the executive requires a determined and strong legislative institution committed to its constitutional responsibilities. All the issues are within the oversight competence of the National Assembly.
Effective oversight of executive actions is a necessity to boost the fortunes of the nation and rekindle the hope of citizens that entrusted the National Assembly with their collective power for the promotion of their interests. Since the Fourth Republic began on 29 May 1999, Nigerians have been waiting in vain for the assembly to fulfill this role. The previous nine legislatures have failed as the central institution of the government. That’s because politics has been about personal power and financial gain.
Under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government from 1999 to 2007, the National Assembly was unable to assert its relevance. The executive sought to cage and control its activities, against the principle of separation of powers. The corruption scandals in the legislature since 1999 have dented the assembly’s integrity as the conscience of the public. The failure of the legislative assemblies since 1999 to do what the constitution expects of them has resulted in the country’s people being unable to meet their basic needs. When other institutions of the government fail in their responsibilities, the legislature cannot afford to fail its principal, the people. Nigeria’s 10th Assembly can make a difference.
[Tribune]