National Assembly: Whither the legislative agenda?

Either wittingly or otherwise, contemporary politics in Nigeria has degenerated into an open fray with room for participation by all comers, namely the good the bad and the ugly. It is in that context that can be situated the ongoing crises in the polity in which the National Assembly is gaining on a daily basis, increasing mention in public discourse, and perhaps for the wrong reasons. The key elements of the yet to abate crises, trail a series of twists and turns in the playout of Nigerian-style democracy, which had assumed the pattern of operating on the fringe of lunacy and running on the premise of ‘you do not have to be mad to run here. But just in case you are, it helps’.

It is easily recalled that just before, and at the commencement of the current recess by the National Assembly, the institution was thrown into a spate of turbulence featuring a gale of defections by dozens of senators and members of the House of Representatives from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the main opposition party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Also to be remembered was the follow-up of some unusual tit-for-tat reactions from some of their die-hard colleagues of the APC in the name of damage control for their ruling party, and in the wake of whatever gains the PDP would have made from the former’s in-house implosion. In the context of the situation where the defectors were mainly of the PDP, the entire defection drama easily assumed the hue of a conflict in which the National Assembly was contending with the APC establishment in a battle of wits.

It is significant that in the unprecedented swirl of events, the institution has undergone a transformation, whereby its leadership structure as at today, features three out of the four presiding officers of the institution belonging to the PDP while only one is still of the APC. Hence in the present configuration, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, are all of the PDP while only Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun, is of the APC. Of concern here is how the APC will take the situation of loss power – even if marginally in the legislature, when it is the ruling party that controls the machinery of government.

The implications of this unprecedented state of affairs are not difficult to see, especially as the opening scene of the resumption protocol of the National Assembly and commencement of business in its respective chambers will prove, whenever the institution overcomes the jitteriness of its leaders on both sides of the political divide, and opens the doors of its chambers. Expectedly, members of both the APC and PDP, will assert themselves to gain strategic advantage, in a battle of supremacy to call the shots. The ensuing conflict may not run without the active intervention of the executive arm through subtle diplomatic maneuvers or outright deployment of security agents (depending on the form and intensity of whatever turbulence that ensues).

Already, even before the gale of defections tell-tale signs of the inclination of the Executive cage on the legislature have been rife. This is just as the turn of events has attracted spirited sabre rattling by several top-notch APC senators and members of the House of Representatives, with the active support of the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole. In another vein, while the possibility of a tacit postponement of the return to business by the legislators, has been blamed on the ongoing conduct of primaries by the various political parties, it is not difficult to see the postponement as more than a mere coincidence with the anticipated turbulence on the opening day of the National Assembly.

Yet against the backdrop of all of this drama lies the primary responsibility of the National Assembly to deliver its constitutional mandate of exercising the legislative powers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to drive the fundamental objectives of state policy. This condition predisposes the National Assembly to serve as the eye and voice of the country to ensure that the national interest is upheld by any actor serving in public office. Also of interest is that the Eighth National Assembly set out at inception to adopt a legislative agenda with designated customization of the package by both the Senate and House of Representatives.

In the light of the ongoing twists and turns in the polity, much of which constitute nothing more than mere distractions, it becomes worrisome to appreciate that it may remain a fractured national institution which may not be disposed to demonstrate a proactive response to any national emergency until the end of its tenure in June 2019. The question now is to what extent can the National Assembly deliver on whatever is left unattended to, on the legislative agenda. Such if considered on an eclectic basis, constitutes a huge pile of unfinished business. And given that the political drama has degraded to a level where national interest has been displaced by personal interest of the gladiators on the turf, who are now bent only on facilitating their return to the honey pot of national patrimony, the country may as well resign itself to a diminished scope of intervention by the institution in the process of governance.

Even at the best of times the Executive arm under President Muhammadu Buhari had unfortunately not been credited with significant collaboration with the National Assembly, even on matters that are constitutionally designated for exclusive affirmative action by the latter. This is therefore not the time to expect uncommon magnanimity for the legislature from that arm of government.

In the anticipated state of anomy (whether subdued or heightened) that may ensue in the National Assembly on its resumption shall be casualties; one of such shall be the 2019 budget. Perhaps one of the   most significant acts of disservice which the Eighth National Assembly has conceded the Executive Arm to unleash on the country is the diminished premium on the Federal Government budget over all of its tenure.

Little wonder that in all of the ongoing political drama, the very critical 2019 budget, which is already late for presentation, is yet to qualify before the Presidency and the National Assembly, as an issue.

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