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Anchor for Masari�s drifting House
Next Tuesday, the House of Representatives would reconvene after an eight-week recess. Senan John Murray reviews the scorecard of the lower legislative chamber since inauguration and concludes that the quality of legislation was, after all, not so impressive, an affliction that must be purged as the second legislative year opens.
A hundred days after its inauguration, the House of Representatives, was still trying to settle in, its scorecard was virtually blank with no record of any bill passed save for about a dozen motions since Tuesday, June 03, 2003. A year later, the House remains adrift, seemingly lacking a firm rudder for the important four-year trip that lies ahead.
But Speaker Aminu Bello Masari, clearly, does not think so. Under his leadership, he boasts, the House has passed as many as 27 bills, considered 75 motions and received 143 public petitions. A closer look at the tally of bills passed by the House, however, revealed that, indeed, only 15 bills were passed in the last legislative year, the other 12 being international treaties that were merely accepted into Nigeria�s statute books without as much as a second look.
While a bill takes months or even years to scale through the legislative crucible, an international treaty hardly takes a decent portion of an hour to be passed into law (or ratified as the lawmakers love to say) in the House. For instance, while it took China over 13 years to ratify or adopt or localise the World Trade Organisation Treaty, it took the House a matter of minutes to ratify, for instance, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade Treaty. A harmless treaty, the legislators must have reasoned. After all, it did not sound like a thing that could mean much for Nigeria, the lawmakers must have reasoned, as the House hurried the treaty through the legislative process that Tuesday, June 1. Although there is, clearly, no immediate danger for Nigeria in this instance, the practice is one that may, willy-nilly and ignorantly, railroad the country into some international booby traps.
The bill tally: number vs quality
Such was the tardy and tawdry process of legislation in the House in the past one year. However, the lower legislative chamber must be given credit for overcoming truancy. Under Na�Abba, it was virtuous to be a truant lawmaker. But Masari�s House has risen above this affliction having sat for 215 sittings instead of the constitutionally required minimum of 181 days. Out of the 87 bills introduced during the year, the House passed only 15, including the ratification of 12 international treaties.
Apart from the 2004 Appropriation Act and the 2003 Supplementary Act, the most relevant of the bills passed by the House, arguably, include the Universal Basic Education (Amendment) Bill; the Privatisation and Commercialisation (Public Enterprises) Bill; the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Bill; the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Bill and the Allocation of Revenue (Abolition of Dichotomy in the Application of the Principle of Derivation Bill. That�s all.
Conversely, some bills that are pivotal in the ongoing public reforms in the country are gathering dust in filing cabinets in the House for no justifiable reason. In this category is the Freedom of Information Bill which was about the first to pass a second reading. In fact, report of committee work on the legislation has been laid before the House, the final stage before passage into law. But the courage to consider the report is absent for reasons that might not be unconnected with Obasanjo�s voiced dislike for the bill as proposed.
The bill had attained the same stage under Na�Abba, who also abandoned it and simply passed it on to Masari. Perhaps, the bill-relay is bound to continue given Masari�s tepid disposition to it. All that is left for the bill to be passed by the House is its consideration at the Committee of the Whole House, after which it would be adopted and passed into law. At this stage also, the committee report on the bill could be rejected and sent back for some adjustments at the committee level. But no: Masari�s House has refused to do neither despite its public pledge to pass laws that would strengthen democracy and make government accountable to Nigerians.
On the resumption of the second half of the First Legislative Session of the House earlier on January 13, Masari acknowledged that, indeed, Nigeria�s statute books were choking with anachronistic laws, some of them dating back to the colonial era. The speaker rightly observed that many of the laws were promulgated whimsically in the characteristic military fashion at a time that the guiding philosophy of public policy favoured the predominance of the public sector in economic management.
He was also perceptive enough to realise that this category of statutes was at odds with the current philosophy behind the Federal Government-led reforms that seek to surrender economic leadership to the private sector. Masari observed that �if care is not taken, the chaotic state of the nation�s statute books could frustrate and stifle the entire reform process and render nugatory the various economic and administrative reform initiatives of the government.�
With such perception, it would have been expected that the House would speed up legislation to free up the legal arena for the reforms that are already being stalled in some sectors due to the absence of the enabling laws. The Electricity Power Sector Reform Bill and the Telecommunication Amendment Bill, for instance, have been gathering dust in the House while arguments rage over whether or not Obasanjo should send fresh bills or simply seek an amendment to the version passed by the former National Assembly. The bill seeking to establish a New Revenue (Federation Account) Formula, which was introduced in the House as far back as September 24 last year, is yet to leave the in-tray on the clerk�s desk. Same is true of the Niger-Delta Development Commission (Amendment) Bill, which went through a first reading since August 5, 2003.
Following reports of flooding and erosion at the peak of the rainy season last year, precisely on November 11, the House introduced an Erosion and Floods Control Commission Bill. It has since been abandoned � just like the one seeking mandatory treatment and prohibiting discriminatory treatment against persons with HIV and AIDS.
Masari�s intervention army
Shortly after taking the oath of office a little over a year ago, Masari delivered a modestly worded inaugural address that was laced with the promise of a new dawn in a House that had fought a credibility war under his predecessor, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na�Abba and lost. Under Na�Abba, the House was written off as a self-serving legislature that was caught up in an ego war between the speaker and President Olusegun Obasanjo. It was a House that was thought to have fiddled while Nigeria burnt.
So, when Masari came with a gospel that promised to be �the only guarantee to a successful legislative tenure of impacting material benefit to the Nigerian public,� he, naturally, became the toast of the optimists, but the pessimists believed that with his political umbilical cord buried at the Aso Villa where he was reportedly sired, he would hardly find the courage to dance the bossa nova while his �benefactor� waltzed.
But Masari disappointed his critics during his first sharo outing: Like a Fulani youth emboldened by the prospect of winning a bride by refusing to wince despite heavy strokes of the Fulani staff on his bare chest, Masari led the House to intervene in the feud between the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Federal Government over the June, 2003 increase in the retail price of petroleum products. Although the intervention by the House yielded almost no result, the courage exhibited by Masari in the crisis rekindled the hope that the House might have finally outgrown the adventuresome habits of the Na�Abba era.
Events that followed were to prove that the House was more of an intervention army than a legislative kiln. Shortly after the fuel price increase crisis that crippled the nation for about two weeks, another political emergency erupted in Anambra State where the State Governor, Dr Chris Ngige was taken hostage by a gang of police hirelings acting on the orders of some political brigands. Masari did not hesitate before despatching an intervention team to the South-Eastern state. Although the ad-hoc committee constituted by the House to investigate the circumstances that led to the abduction of Ngige managed to submit a report, the House, for inexplicit reasons, never found the courage to debate the committee�s findings despite allegations that the report was �sexed up� at the instance of some extra-parliamentary forces.
Credit must be given to the House for its prompt response to political emergencies even though such responses have never been known to produce any result, save, of course, the usual report that never gets to the public. When Obasanjo, again, introduced the controversial fuel tax earlier in January this year, the House rose up on the side of Nigerians as it passed a resolution asking the executive to suspend the policy for a more auspicious time.
Predictably, Obasanjo spurned the motion and had to contend, instead, with the Nigeria Labour Congress. The House later chose to play the comical role of mediating between the NLC and the �Federal Government� as though the Federal Government were some alien aggressor. For its reactionary, rather than proactive posturing, the House, certainly, deserves a commendation letter from Nigerians, but for executing its statutory duties, the House hardly deserves better than the kind of booing the FG received at the 8th All Africa Games last October. Out of the 52 motions passed by the House, only the one demanding the separation of the Federal Road Safety Commission from the Nigerian Police has been respected by Obasanjo. And it could be safely argued that the president accented to the motion because it suited his whim.
Of course, the former Na�Abba-led House never passed these many bills in one legislative year. But Na�Abba�s group never had the advantage of the much-touted �cognate experience�. Na�Abba was a pioneer, Masari isn�t. But this advantage is yet to be put to use by the sitting speaker.
For instance, following the increase in the pump price of petroleum products in July last year, the House decided to probe the finances of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The argument was that the corruption in NNPC was responsible for the collapse of the refineries, a factor that is known to have aggravated the supply and distribution problems of petroleum products. The argument never got off the ground despite the wide support it received on the floor of the House.
Similarly, on August 7, last year, the House began a probe into the operations of GSM operators in the country. The Yemi Arokodare-led Committee on Communications, which was saddled with the job made a lot of noise in the first few weeks. Although, the committee has presented a report to the House, the report, as usual, has been consigned to the filing cabinet. End of matter! The controversy over the safety of the polio vaccine followed shortly. Again, the House Committee on Health, headed by Dr Aminu Safana, submitted a report to the House, but it is yet to merit a debate.
As though the abandonment of the July 8, 2003 probe of the NNPC by the House was not bad enough, the lower legislative chamber was to order another investigation in September and even went as far as inviting the former Group Managing Director of the corporation, Mr Jackson Gaius-Obaseki to appear before its plenary session. He did appear, but that was the end of the much-advertised probe.
Agitation of the intellectuals
However, persons who have been disappointed by Masari�s good-boy approach to leadership may finally sit back and savour the birth of intellectual opposition in the House. A group known as the Forum for Good Governance and Democracy caucus is worried about the type of tardiness and sluggish legislative processes that have characterised the past legislative year. Rather than receive encouragement as a positive initiative, the caucus was demonised because the former Political Adviser to Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Dr Usman Bugaje is seen as its main architect. In the lower legislative chamber, Bugaje is the informal synonym for trouble for being too frank with his opinions on national issues.
Masari�s loyalists in the House think that the launch of the FDGG was, indeed, the birth of the plot to unseat the speaker. Bugaje and his team denied this insinuation, explaining that their aim was to strengthen legislative processes and democratic tenets through good governance. Bugaje lost the speakership race to Masari last June because he lacked �cognate legislative experience�, being a first time lawmaker.
�The National Assembly, being one of the greatest institutions of democracy, the conscience of the nation, the voice of the people, has, perhaps, the greatest responsibility to ensure that democracy is sustained and democratic institutions are protected and strengthened,� the FDGG mission statement declared. �Those of us in the National Assembly have, therefore, a duty, not only to represent our people, but also to strive to strengthen democracy and good governance.
�To create harmonious working condition and relationship between the three arms of government, i.e. the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary, in such a way as will enhance the efficiency, effectiveness and independence of all arms of government.�
Bugaje added that �by the very nature of this enterprise, this forum is multi-party; multi-ethnic; multi-religious and cuts across all the states of the federation. May I also assure the leadership of the legislature and particularly the political parties herein, that we are not positioning ourselves as a parallel leadership in the House.
�We are simply a band of men and women who want to influence issues we care about; to promote democracy; nurture it; protect it and ensure the observance of its tenets for the common good of the country.�
The All Nigeria Peoples Party Whip in the House, Alhaji Usman Balkore Mohammed was the first to voice his suspicions on the birth of the FDGG Caucus. He told this writer that since the FDGG was out to perform the same duties that a parliament, ordinarily, was expected to execute, the launch of the caucus amounted to an indictment on the House.
Hear him: �Their link with the civil society organisations, coupled with their undisguised lack of comfort with the current leadership of the House makes the forum suspect. They should not arrogate to themselves the constitutional role of the House, because as far as I can see, this forum is a parliament within a parliament.
�They are hijacking and arrogating to themselves the role of the legislature. So, I�d advise them to drop the idea since it appears to me that their aim is not issue-based. The existence of the group is like saying nothing.�
He is not alone in his confusion over the purpose of the FDGG, but it is a misunderstanding that may as well be deliberate: give a dog (especially one you don�t like) a bad name to hang it.
Although new in Nigeria, interest caucuses are not new in world parliaments. The United States, for instance, has about 100 causes in the House of Representatives or the Senate, a tradition that dates back to 1989. These causes introduce direction and focus to legislative processes by setting the legislative agenda. Essentially, they serve as pressure groups advancing some causes they believe to be in the interest of their constituents.
The verdict
If the number of bills passed were to remain the only criterion for gauging the performance of a legislature, then the House has done well. But if quality of legislation; effective oversighting of the executive and the intellectual depth of legislation were to be added, then Masari�s House still has a long way to go. However, it must be conceded that going by the serious dearth of logistics in the House, it is still praise-worthy that this much was attained in the first legislative year alone. Some standing committee chairmen in the House have no offices, let alone office equipment and supplies. This situation, of course, makes parliamentary work quite difficult, but merely challenging for the determined. The House was lot less than determined throughout the last legislative year. It pandered too much to the Executive, a posturing that even earned it the epithet, ministry of legislative affairs, complete with a minister and minister of state (President of the Senate and Speaker, respectively).
Sunday Punch, July 25, 2004
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