NASS begs Governors not to kill 44 proposed legislations

The leadership of the National Assembly on Monday openly begged State Governors not to kill the 44 proposed legislations to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which was transmitted to the 36 States’ Houses of Assembly for concurrence in March 2022.

Recall that the Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly had requested for inclusion of three items in the ongoing constitution review, namely: Establishment of the State Judicial Council; streamlining of the procedure for removing Presiding Officers of State Houses of Assembly; and Institutionalising Legislative Bureaucracy in the Constitution, as a precondition for the adoption of the ongoing exercise.

The President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila gave the charge during the ‘Distinguished Parliamentarians Lecture 2022 series organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) led by Professor Olanrewaju Suleiman.

The President of the Senate who first made the appeal urged Governor Nasir el -Rufai of Kaduna State who was the Chairman of the event, to help in lobbying other Governors for the adoption of the 44 bills forwarded to the State Houses of Assembly in March.

“We will ask you to lobby for us. We have sent (to the States) the outcome of our Constitution review and we are yet to receive all from the States. So, we should be able to wind up this process by getting responses from the state Houses of Assembly.

“Even if it is one month left, we have the capacity to work together to ensure that we pass some of the legislations that are required in a very expeditious manner. Plead, lobby your Governor colleagues for us because I can see that you do that very well,” he urged.

In his remarks, Professor Suleiman explained that the series of Parliamentarian Public Lectures provides a platform where members of the Parliament could tell their stories, programme accomplishments and challenges.

He said: “An occasion as this is undoubtedly rare for the fact that the Head of the Government of the Federation who doubles as the Head of the Executive and the heads of the two chambers of the National Assembly are in attendance of a programme where issues that bother on parliamentary initiatives and processes are being brought to the front burner, while the account of the parliamentarians giant strides are being showcased.

“Today’s occasion clearly attests to the robust nature of Executive/Legislative complementarity that is brought to bear on Democratic practices in Africa, where Nigeria is taking the lead. For, if the symbiotic relationship between these very important arms of government, such as being witnessed here today, is strengthened, it portends a leeway for democracy and impactful good governance to thrive.

“This however does not preclude the two arms having to occasionally diverge, even seriously on issues that have a direct bearing on the lives of constituents,” the NILDS helmsman noted.

While delivering the lecture titled: ‘Delivering on our contract with Nigerians: Implementing the Legislative Agenda of the 9th House of Representatives – Progress, Challenges and the Way Forward, Hon. Gbajabiamila argued that though the process of the constitution review exercise made by the 9th National Assembly seems to have been stalled at the State Houses of Assembly, he however urged Governor el-Rufai to save the exercise from total failure.

He said: “The National Assembly passed a draft of amendments to the Constitution and advanced them to the States as required. That process now seems to have stalled in the State Assemblies. As it is today, it is doubtful that the current constitutional amendment effort will conclude before the expiration of this legislative term.

“However, the appeal made by the Senate President to Governor Nasir el-Rufai for the required cooperation of Governors on the exercise may bring the process back to life.”

Speaking further the Speaker averred that: “the biggest challenge of implementation we have encountered with the Legislative Agenda is one that often imperils reform efforts worldwide: the refusal to embrace change.

According to him: “Both consciously and otherwise, there usually is institutional resistance to fundamental changes in policy and processes in the public sector. This is compounded by the number of constituencies whose interests, concerns and expectations must be factored in and managed.

“We have 360 members in the House of Representatives from nearly a dozen political parties. We have the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) as the parliamentary civil service with thousands of personnel, a multitude of Political and Policy Aides, and so many other interested parties, many of whom may be used to doing things differently. Time and careful management are indispensable components of successful reform in arenas like this.

“Then you have the issue of competing objectives. How do you set a Legislative Agenda that adequately captures the priorities of constituents in Surulere, Nnewi, Daura, Gubio, Ogoja and Wase at the same time? How do you assure the members representing these diverse constituencies that the priorities of their constituents won’t get lost in a streamlined, collaborative, and coordinated approach to legislative policymaking? How do you bring the Senate and the Executive along when you have managed to ensure that the House is committed to the same priorities and rowing in one accord to the same destination?”

Going forward, Gbajabiamila said the House of Representatives, in its future iterations, should continue the agenda-setting, prioritisation, monitoring and evaluation model of legislative policymaking embodied in the Legislative Agenda of the 9th House.

He noted that the Committee on Monitoring and Implementation of the Legislative Agenda should become, in the new parliament, a standing committee fully funded to serve as the in-house think tank, policy coordinator and delivery unit of the House.

“We need to adopt a new system of vetting legislative proposals for quality control and compliance with legislative agenda priorities. Amendments to the Standing Orders of the House will be required to achieve this.”

“The design of future Legislative Agendas needs to be more collaborative to aid implementation. Efforts must be made ab-initio to harmonise competing priorities of the various interests and stakeholder groups and align the different arms of government towards the same goals.

“Whatever the political settlement that emerges after the 2023 general elections, all concerned must recognise that government cannot afford to be at cross-purposes with itself. This doesn’t mean that we must all agree on what needs to be done and the process of getting things done. But we must make concerted efforts to identify areas of agreement and work on those together whilst seeking accommodations in other areas that allow us to advance little by little.”

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