National Assembly Passes 146 Laws In 120 Months
From Alifa Daniel, (Asst Political Editor) Abuja
Contrary to public expectations, Nigeria's National Assembly has passed an average of one bill into law per month since it was inaugurated for the first time 10 years ago, going by a list of the bills passed into laws available in Abuja.
As in other democracies, most of the bills passed into laws came from the Executive arm of government, but the year 2007 stands out as the year of highest legislative activity, with 41 bills passed into laws.
It is also the same year that the Freedom of Information (FoI) bill suffered a mysterious death while traveling between the National Assembly and the Presidential Villa for the assent of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The lawmakers said the passed bill left the Dome (as the National Assembly is called), but Obasanjo and his aides claimed it never got to him. Many, including lawmakers, believed that the former President, his aides, and some bureaucrats were economical with the truth.
The bill has, however, been re-introduced on the floor of both Houses of the Assembly and has begun another internal journey within. Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) and Representative Abike Dabiri are the arrow-heads of the bill in the two separate houses.
But the body movement of members of the House of Representatives' has rattled those pushing for the law to be passed in the country.
In all the bills passed into laws, 1999 understandably has the lowest figure of two, with two supplementary appropriation bills passed into law. It was the year lawmakers and executive officers were coming into office, and they had only about six months.
Curiously, 2008 had only four bills passed into laws. Even then, three of the Acts were Appropriation Acts viz Appropriation Act, 2007; Niger Delta Appropriation Act, 2008; and Appropriation (Amendment) Act, 2008. The last Act signed that year was the Certain Political and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) (Amendment) Act, 2008.
This year, only one bill, the 2009 Appropriation Bill, has been signed into law, while another, the Political Parties Registration Commission, died on the floor of the Senate. A whole lot of the other six electoral reform bills, it is feared, may go the same way until the country's rule book, the Constitution, is itself amended.
Another transition year, 2003, came second in the number of bills passed into laws with 29 bills passed. Many observers suggest that the lawmakers are usually desperate to prove they worked hard for their pay in the transition years, so they hurry up to pass a backlog of bills into law.
Many have questioned the effectiveness of the National Assembly, which is believed to have cost taxpayers several hundreds of billions of Naira in the last 10 years. Conservatively, not less than N600 billion has been spent on the Assembly, its bureaucracy, the lawmakers, and legislative aides.
Analysts have suggested that the dearth of bills to the National Assembly in the last two years may be a function of the slow nature of the present administration, and the "laziness of lawmakers who can not prepare private member bills."
Nevertheless, the passage of 146 bills in 10 years at an average of 1.2 bills in a month, is seen as a worthy feat by the lawmakers.
"If you know what it takes to pass a bill into law, then the National Assembly should be commended for a job well done for passing a bill into law in a month as you say," one lawmaker said on phone at the weekend.
Defending the National Assembly two weeks ago, Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin said: "In the last 10 years, the National Assembly has risen to national challenges through legislation of appropriate laws. We have passed a law establishing the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC, to ensure that as a nation, we devote attention and resources for the development of the Niger Delta.
"In the same vein, we passed the appropriate laws to put a stop to gas flaring, thereby protecting our environment and health and well-being of our people in the Niger Delta. The law is also to make sure that we broaden the base of our national revenue. We are presently in the process of passing a bill to ensure more local participation in the oil and gas sector. The local content bill, when passed, will guarantee that many aspects of the oil sector have local participation.
"This law will create more jobs for Nigerians in the sector. It will also mean that Nigerian businesses are more involved in the industry, thereby reducing capital flight in the sector. We have passed laws to bring sanity into the financial sector, which was bedeviled by instances of failed banks before the advent of the democratic experiment in 1999.
"The National Assembly has passed many laws concerning the welfare of Nigerians. Principal among these is the Minimum Wage Amendment bill, which paved the way for significant improvement in the take home pay of Nigerian workers. In the bill covering the establishment of a Commission for the control of erosion and desertification, the National Assembly sought to protect the environment as well as the wellbeing of Nigerians who are victims of these environmental disasters. In the same vein, the National Assembly passed a law for the establishment of a Commission to cater for the interest of communities located in hydro-electricity producing areas.
"When this democratic dispensation commenced in 1999, corruption was a major crisis confronting the country. We have passed laws establishing the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to check the menace of corruption. There have been new challenges and realities since the enactment of the Acts establishing these commissions as prime agents in the war against corruption. The National Assembly is already in the process of reviewing these laws to take care of these new challenges and realities. A relevant law under the consideration of the National Assembly in the quest to check corruption is the law permitting the state to seize properties suspected to be proceeds of corruption pending the completion of investigation into such cases. In this bill, we can see how the National Assembly responds to challenging challenges of the society.
"Let me clarify that while many of these bills emanated from the executive arm of government, they nevertheless depend on the legislature to give them the rigour that will grant them the teeth to effectively check the problems they are meant to address.
"Besides these bills, the National Assembly as a routine entertains motions that address pressing national issues. Through this process, the attention of the executive arm of government is drawn to issues that bother Nigerians. The issues that have regularly featured in our motions include national security, the plight of Nigerians in diaspora, the state of public infrastructure, the cost of living, happenings in the financial sector and the decay in our educational and health institutions. I wish to state that the executive has found this platform a viable source of knowing the views of Nigerians.
"The National Assembly also regularly through its Public Petitions Committees listens to petitions from citizens on sundry issues. These over the years have included alleged wrongful dismissal from work, discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, gender, religion or health; and abuse of office by government agencies especially the armed forces. These issues are considered and investigated by appropriate committees of the National Assembly. Many of such petitions are resolved to the satisfaction of aggrieved citizens. The findings and recommendations of the National Assembly help to improve federal agencies. It is unfortunate this is one of the least reported activities of National Assembly.
"In the exercise of its oversight function, the National Assembly has drawn attention to many atrocities committed in government. Public hearings by the National Assembly have afforded Nigerians information about their duties. Where such oversight function engagements turn up instances of corruption or mismanagement, the National Assembly has had cause to bring in law enforcement agencies to get public officials to account for their stewardship."
