The 7th House of Reps’ legislative agenda in three years

The lawmakers resolved that: “Over the next four years, the House of Representatives will pursue an aggressive legislative agenda to reposition itself as a key branch of government able and determined to deliver on the key elements of governance.”Members of the lower chamber declared further then that: “We acknowledge that the House has had to […]

The lawmakers resolved that: “Over the next four years, the House of Representatives will pursue an aggressive legislative agenda to reposition itself as a key branch of government able and determined to deliver on the key elements of governance.”
Members of the lower chamber declared further then that: “We acknowledge that the House has had to navigate the difficult terrain of winning public trust and confidence and even of being the champion of the peoples’ cause.
“Today, and with the inauguration of the Seventh Session of the House of Representatives, we make bold to state and with great assurance to the Nigerian people that the legislature has come of age. It is a new day – a new House of Representatives, and we are prepared to meet and surpass the expectations of the Nigerian people to represent their best interests.”
Specifically, the lawmakers itemised some of the areas in which they intended to give adequate attention as part of their legislative agenda.
To carry out its main function of lawmaking, the House declared: “Priority legislation for the Seventh Session will include the Petroleum Industry Bill, Electoral Reform, Constitution Amendment, Infrastructure reforms (Power, Transportation), Education reforms, Agriculture and land reforms, job creation initiatives, (the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) Act will be amended to address the problem of youth unemployment), housing, including mortgage reforms, youth and social development, gender empowerment. Our legislative priorities will include legal and justice sector reforms.”
The House also said “the use of electronic voting will be a regular feature of House proceedings in order to ensure that members’ voting records are appropriately documented.”
It also promised to compel Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to submit an annual budget implementation status report which includes non-financial performance information.
Another area in which the lower chamber said it would pay attention to was reducing cost of governance by reviewing the laws establishing commissions and agencies with a view to reducing wastages and eliminating duplication of mandate.
The Seventh House of Reps also promised to strengthen the institutional and legal framework to support the security services to tackle crime, terrorism and other national security challenges and would work to remove legal obstacles to business and strengthen the legal framework of regulatory agencies in critical sectors to help bolster private sector participation in the economy and achieve national development.
Similarly, the lower chamber said it would engage civil society organisations, professional bodies, labour, the media and other stakeholders, in order to achieve participatory representation in the process of law-making, oversight and representation.
But three years down the line, will the lawmakers look back and say they have achieved what they set out to? A closer examination of their activities on the agenda so far will tell.
Initially, the lawmakers started on a very serious note. But somewhere along the line, their spirit got dampened with most of them allowing party politics to overshadow their contributions and debate on the floor of the House and outside it.
First, in the area of committee oversight and budget monitoring, members of the House seem not to have done much. Although the 2012 and 2013 budgets were passed within record time, the same cannot be said of this year’s budget which was passed in April.
This was necessitated first by the fact that in both chambers of the National Assembly, President Goodluck Jonathan felt uncomfortable with some elements of the then ‘new PDP’ who vowed to heckle him during the budget presentation.
Twice Jonathan shelved his planned presentation of the budget. He later delegated finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to lay the budget before the two chambers on his behalf on December 19. This happened despite the initial resolve by members of the House to put party politics aside and work for the Nigerian people.
Even in the 2013 budget, there was some form of foot-dragging when Jonathan sent an amendment to the budget long after its passage and his assent.
The budget issue meant that Nigerians did not get the best last year and may not get the best this year.
With regards to oversight, the lawmakers do go with all seriousness. In fact, they usually suspend plenary for a week or two just for that purpose. However, not all the committees turn in their reports immediately. During their last oversight, 57 committees did not submit their reports on time, a situation that prompted Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to give them an ultimatum in December last year to do so.
In the area of legislation, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which the lawmakers promised to give priority is yet to see the light of the day. An ad hoc committee was set up last year and public hearings were conducted across the six geo-political zones of the country in April last year, but nothing is heard to date.
House spokesman Rep Zakari Mohammed (APC, Kwara) had told Daily Trust on several occasions that the committee was addressing some technical areas on the bill and that the report would be ready in the near future.
Again, the constitution review process kick started by the House is still ongoing, although the lawmakers had voted on all the over 80 clauses to be amended. Mohammed also told journalists at some point that the committee would conclude its work in June.
Although electoral, infrastructure, education, agriculture and land reforms are also receiving attention from the lawmakers, they cannot be compared with the ones above.
In a recent press conference with journalists, chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business Rep Albert Tanimu Sam-Tsokwa (PDP, Taraba) listed the achievements of the lower chamber in terms of legislation to include the passage of 75 bills and 172 motions as at January.
Sam-Tsokwa said the House received a total of 660 bills within the period out of which 588 were read for the first time, while 72 were awaiting first reading and 278 were awaiting second reading.
He said 610 bills were private-member bills, 46 executive bills and another four Senate bills, with 135 bills pending in the various committees; 25 bills awaiting consideration and 18 withdrawn.
Checks by Daily Trust showed that out of the bills presented, about 10 were consolidated due to their similarity in content or title.
The House also passed into law bills that sought for the establishment of federal universities in 10 states of Akwa Ibom, Jigawa, Katsina, Gombe, Nasarawa, Kogi, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Taraba and Ebonyi in 2012.
Some of the bills passed by the House so far include Whistle blower bill, 2013; WAEC cheats bill, 2013; PenCom bill 2014, Anti-tobacco bill, 2013; Same sex marriage prohibition bill, 2013; Small arms commission bill, 2012; Nigerian Institute of Chartered Foresters bill, 2013; Companies Income Tax bill and Nigerian Electricity Management Services Authority (NEMSA) bill, 2012.
Others are immigration bill, 2012; capital project mandatory report bill, 2013; Chartered Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria (Establishment) bill, 2013; sale of goods bill, 2013; vocational schools (Establishment) bill, 2012; Institute of Animal Science Act (Amendment) bill, 2012; National Emergency Management Agency (Amendment) bill, 2012; National Park Service Act (Amendment) bill, 2013  Nigerian Mental Health bill, 2013; Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition), Enforcement and Administration bill, 2013 etcetera.
Some bills pending in the House include petroleum refineries bill, Animal Health Husbandry Technologists bill, 2013;  National Primary Health Care Development Agency Act, bill, 2013; National Programme on Immunisation (Repeal) bill, 2012; Statutory Instrument (Legislative Instrument) bill, 2012; National War College Act (Amendment) bill, 2012; National Bio Safety Management Agency bill, 2012; Federal Highway Act (Amendment) bill, 2012; Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act (Amendment) bill, 2013; Federal Capital Territory Border Communities Development Commission bill, 2013; Chartered Institute on Loan and Risk Management of Nigeria bill, 2013 and Road Sector Reform bill, 2013 among many others.
Perhaps one area that proved very tasking was the issue of using electronic voting system in proceedings of the House.
At a time when attention of most Nigerians was on the lower chamber to utilise the e-voting system, it could not, rather, it conducted manual voting on July 24, 2013 on various clauses of constitution amendment.
This was preceded by series of disappointments from the Nigeria Communication Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) whose officials were contracted to install some devices that would aid voting electronically.
The House later managed to procure some personalised devices given to lawmakers for the purpose of voting, but the original electronic devices on lawmakers’ seats seem to be non-functional to date.
The Green Chamber, however, succeeded in compelling MDAs to submit their budget performance and evaluation reports at the end of every year before a new budget is approved.
One area that remains contentious in the life of the Nigerian federal legislature is the issue of reducing cost of governance. While the lawmakers shout to the rooftops about this, most Nigerians, especially the elite, see them as contributing to the problem.
For the past three years, the budget of both chambers has been N150 billion without any, rising suspicion among many.
A newspaper report had last year said Nigerian lawmakers are among the highest paid in the world. But the lawmakers insist that the amount was still moderate given that it is for them and their retinue of aides as well as the entire National Assembly staff.
In contributing to the fight against terrorism, Tambuwal explained during a visit by the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria (FOMWAN) that what the legislature could do was to provide the legal framework and appropriate funds for the relevant security agencies.
To a reasonable extent, the lawmakers have been approving all the amounts proposed for security from 2011 to date. They have also passed the counter-terrorism bill into law, which enables the fight to have some legal framework.
The extent to which the House engages civil society organisations, professional bodies, labour and the media in its activities as it promised is contestable. This is because that is lacking.
The public petitions committee, which the Green Chamber promised to give room to work, is undoubtedly one of the active committees of the House. Almost during every sitting, members present different petitions from their constituents, which are then referred to this committee. The committee, headed by Rep Uzo Azubuike (PDP, Abia) turns out its reports almost at every sitting.
In terms of relating with the Senate, no doubt the lower chamber has been doing that, especially when it comes to areas of harmonising its position with the upper chamber.
Only recently, the House raised a committee that met with the Senate and harmonised on the Pension Reform Bill, 2014 which was passed by both chambers, though with some differences.
As for engaging the Executive arm, there is no such thing. Rather, what obtains nowadays is the apparent suspicion between the two arms as a result of different probes embarked upon by the House.
While the lower chamber insists it is doing its constitution work, the Executive believes it is just an act of ‘witch-hunting’ and ‘politicking.’ Even President Jonathan alluded to this during his last media chat when he said “there is more politics in the House of Representatives.”
Tambuwal had also recently said the lawmakers “meet serious resistance” when they go for oversight.
With exactly one year left to the expiration of their tenure, it is now a matter of conjecture whether or not members of the 7th House of Representatives will achieve what they set out to as their legislative agenda in 2011.