Governance: The legislative perspective

American political scene is always full of notable and frequent scolding of the congress and its members.

A renowned writer, Mark Twain, bequeathed so many unpalatable quotes about the congress in the late 1800’s. Though the US Congress was founded 231 years ago, within the US system of governance, the Congress still receives more scrutiny and more scolding. There are so many reasons why – all over the democratic world, the legislature is perhaps the most open and most accessible to the people, and that is clearly the reason why the scrutiny is more intense.

Since Nigeria’s return to democracy, no arm of government receives as frequent bashing as the legislature. Often, with fury, some even say the country can do without the legislature. Of course, some of the criticisms have merit. But clearly, the open nature of the legislature through legislative sittings, public hearings and oversight visits, people know more about what is going on in the legislature compared to other arms of government.

Just like in the US, the legislature in Nigeria appears to be the ‘fall guy’ of governance. Some may say public fury at legislators in both the US and Nigeria is almost at equal scale, but an average US Congress man is more productive than his Nigerian counterpart. This line of argument can be right and wrong.

In the first place, how can a lawmaker’s performance be appraised? What will be the yardsticks? In finding answers to these questions, Hegel comes in handy, in terms of “rational objectivity about reality.” Simply put, there is a context. What worked as good performance of a lawmaker in the US Congress may not be relevant in Nigeria; though both countries run the same presidential system of government. Some assess lawmakers based on the number of bills they sponsored. Good as it is, but the lawmaker is much more than the number of bills he sponsored – because of the context. The reality a senator faces in the US is not the same as the reality a senator faces in Nigeria. In the US, attending wedding ceremonies, naming ceremonies and turbaning ceremonies are not part of the yardsticks a voter uses to determine whether a lawmaker is good or bad.

In Nigeria, because of the context, it is not the number of bills that matters; it is the impact on people’s lives that makes a good legislature.

Let me use a home example to make my point more clear. The senator representing my Yobe north senatorial zone; comprising Bade, Karasuwa, Nguru, Jakusko, Machina and Yusufari, has been at the National Assembly since 1999 – and is currently President of the Senate. He sponsored dozens of high-impact bills and motions. But at home people hardly mention these legislative achievements. People always attribute his being a good lawmaker and voting for him again and again because of projects he attracted to their communities.

At home Senator Ahmad Lawan is considered a good representative of his people because he has helped in securing employment for youths from across the six local governments he represents in the upper chamber. He recently sponsored the training of over 1000 youths in the area of hardware, software and entrepreneurship development. Participants in the training were drawn from the three senatorial zones of Yobe State.

Senator Ahmad Lawan was instrumental to the location of Federal University, Gashua, where it is now – in Gashua. Locating the university in Gashua puts it in a strategically accessible location for all the people of Yobe north senatorial zone. He also followed this up with ensuring that the Act Establishing the university has been signed by President Muhammadu Buhari. Through his efforts, hostels that can accommodate 2000 students are taking up at the university. Already, work is ongoing for the establishment of a 10-bed clinic in the university. The world class ICT centre the university now has was a result of the commitment of Senator Ahmad Lawan to educational development of the zone. Our senatorial zone is one of the parts of Nigeria referred to as ‘educationally disadvantaged.’

It is to the credit of Senator Ahmad Lawan that he facilitated the reconstruction of Nguru-Gashua-Baymari road which is nearing completion. For us the people of Yobe north and some parts of Yobe east, this road is the most important. Only those of us with an idea of the state of this road before the reconstruction can appreciate how it can transform our communities

On another social front, Senator Ahmad Lawan has built Islamiyya model schools in all the local governments in his senatorial zone. He also sponsored the mass wedding of women from indigent families, which eased the social obligation burden on many families. Each year – from 2017 to date, he sponsors medical outreach in which people receive critical medical treatment free. Herders benefit from cattle vaccination he sponsors annually. He also has also influenced many TEFUND interventions for tertiary institutions in his zone and scholarship opportunities for many aspiring scholars teaching at these institutions.

For a lawmaker who has been in National Assembly for over 20 years, these are only recent projects he attracted to his people. The reason why he keeps winning elections is that he has attracted these development projects to the area he is representing.

Again, we go back to Hegel’s importance of being ‘rational.’ In Nigeria, of course lawmakers have to do more to deliver development, but clearly people never judge lawmakers by the number of bills they sponsor, but by the number of projects they attract to their people; the number of jobs they provide for youths and other key performance indicators that can be out of place – and will never be the yardsticks of determining a good legislator in the US. In Nigeria, no lawmaker goes to polls flaunting the number of bills he/she sponsored. People judge lawmakers by their projects, by their social interventions and concrete development impact.

Hassan Adamu Nguru, Bulabulin, Nguru, Yobe State