An average Nigerian legislator would seize every opportunity at any gathering, public or private to demand to be recognized and respected in society. The law maker’s claim is based on the argument that of all arms of government, the legislature is the greatest symbol of democracy because the arm is usually the only casualty when dictators violently take-over the government of a nation. The contention therefore is that legislators are the only real representatives of the people. But if the truth must be told, most Nigerians are not satisfied with both the official performance and general conduct of their so-called real representatives. This article however refers specifically to federal legislators; because at state level, Nigeria does not have legislators, what we have are special assistants to state governors on law making.

Bearing in mind that the 10th National Assembly was inaugurated only five days ago, some people may consider it too harsh to begin the new legislative year with adverse criticisms of legislators who are yet to settle down to business. While there is a point in allowing them to acclimatise before analysts can begin to place any searchlight on them, many of the members are not really fresh. In fact, this is an appropriate junction to draw their attention to the fine difference between legislators in settled democracies and those in developing societies whose focus should be on how to help their nations to quickly develop so that the standard of living of the people can be uplifted.

This is the best time to plead with those categorized as ranking Nigerian legislators not to pollute the minds of those coming in for the first time. This is because so much has happened in our National Assembly in the past that is injurious to society. In addition, what Nigerians have observed about their legislators in the last one month already confirms that it is likely to be business as usual. First, contrary to the provisions of our constitution, the legislators could not on their own pick their leaders, those who emerged as presiding officers were handpicked by the executive arm of government making it obvious that the 10th Assembly may be a sharper rubber stamp than its immediate predecessor.

Why was it necessary to extend to the world at large, a process of leadership selection specifically designed by the constitution to be internal to the legislature? Why did our legislators spend millions of naira including media placements to campaign nation-wide to even those of us who were not illegible to vote? What message did the commercialization of the process send to the nation? Could those involved in such display of wealth have intended to offer service without recouping their humongous expenditures? Logical answers to these questions can easily establish that we are not about to see a different type of law makers more so as many members of minority parties reportedly negotiated to be made members of ‘lucrative’ committees before supporting the anointed candidates of the executive.

The cry of betrayal by the senator who lost the seat of senate president to the candidate of the executive suggests that senators-elect were compromised by both the winner and the loser of the election. If the executive was fighting to avoid the installation of opposition presiding officers who may through mischief sabotage the mandate of the ruling party, perhaps it would be easy to understand the interest of the executive. But such interest becomes incomprehensible when all the aspirants belonged to the same ruling party. As a result, not many people appreciated the desperation of the executive to instal ‘friendly’ presiding officers. Is it so as to get irrational requests such as excessive loans passed without scrutiny? Put differently, does the executive not intend to operate an open and credible governance system and as such requires legislative collusion?

Interestingly, events of the last 8 years have shown that it is not in the interest of the executive to have a so-called friendly legislature. For example, during the last 4 years of President Buhari’s administration, the president became so irritated by the legislature’s exploitative posture that he had to cry out over what he described as the latter’s “worrisome changes” to annual budgets. At a point, there were as many as 6, 576 new insertions into the budget, different from those discussed between the relevant officials of the executive and the legislature. Many of the inserted items were found to have fallen outside the scope of a federal budget. It was also discovered that about 500 items amounting to not less than N380 billion were duplicated. Buhari must have suddenly realized the difficulty of fighting a ‘friendly’ legislature. The new narrative of trusted friends therefore runs against the lessons of history.

The National Assembly did not also seem to know that it did not impress Nigerians. During the Covid 19 pandemic, legislators did little or nothing to help Nigerians. They also did nothing about palliatives that were hoarded and kept away from the masses by the political class which includes legislators. During the ill-fated new naira policy, no one came to the aid of the rural masses by putting up temporary finance structures to ameliorate human sufferings in locations with no banks. The male-dominated legislature also rejected all pro women bills. These are the specific peculiarities of an underdeveloped society that those in top political positions ought not to discountenance.

Alas, our legislators like their predecessors in office remained self-servicing. When for once, the Auditor-General of the Federation was able to summon enough courage to expose discrepancies and illegal expenditures in government, the legislature gave itself immunity and began to investigate and talk down on officials of all other government institutions indicted by the auditor’s report. Till the end of its tenure no one heard anything about the financial scandals in the report about the National Assembly. Yet, the House of Representatives was specifically indicted for spending over N5.2 billion at different intervals on several unexecuted projects along with advances of N258 million granted to 59 staff who never retired any. Will the new House retrieve these sums to boost revenue for development?

This time around, the public should be educated on the terms and boundaries in the friendly relationship bond between the executive and the legislature. If it is about collaborative federalism, then the legislature must get out of its toga of constructive timidity and become more diligent about its constitutional mandates. The senate for instance is empowered to clear certain nominees before they can be appointed into office. To retain a system in which some nominees are requested to ‘bow and go’ amounts to abdication of responsibility because everyone ought to be properly screened and found fit before being cleared. There is no known law in Nigeria today which empowers senators to exempt any nominee that the law says should be cleared.

The legislature should assist its friend, the executive, to appoint only fit and proper persons into offices, otherwise project Nigeria to which both should be committed would remain a mirage. For a more diligent performance therefore, the senate should demand that positions to be filled should accompany the nominees proposed to fill such positions. This is neither negative nor difficult to agree upon. If not, the old invidious system of blind clearance will never achieve the desired purpose. A major reason why we had a controversial general election earlier in the year was because of the number of unqualified persons that the executive mischievously inserted into the otherwise impartial INEC and which the senate delinquently cleared.

Can the 10th Assembly assure us that it will not in the name of friendship with the executive plunge the nation into political disasters as the 9th Assembly did? It is an assurance required to be solemnly made by the legislature that it is ready to work assiduously for the growth and development of Nigeria. There is no better way to do so than by desisting from the egoistic pursuit of material gains especially hidden monetary allowances that have made the presidential system too expensive for a developing country. The National Assembly should take the lead in making all sectors of Nigeria appreciate the expedience of sowing one’s coat not according to the desired size but according to the available cloth.