It is 18 months since the inauguration of the 10th House of Representatives following the general election in February 2023. It marks 18 months of the election of Abbas Tajudeen and Benjamin Kalu as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House. TONY AKOWE look into the activities of the House in the last 18 months.
The parliament if the beacon of any democratic practice. The legislature serves as the voice of the people while serving as a watch over the Executive, making laws for the governance of the country. The 10th House of Representatives has kept pace with the ideals of every democratic society. Traditionally, the House is saddled with three main responsibilities of representation, oversight and lawmaking. However, Spokesman of the House, Akintunde Rotimi added a fourth responsibility to these. This he called empowerment. However, It is no longer in doubt that the hallmark of any democracy is the legislature, the only arm of government that has always suffered anytime there is a military intervention in governance. 24 years after the return to democracy, the government parliament, especially the House of Representatives rise on a parliament-by-parliament basis. However, with 2024 being the first full year of the 10th Assembly started on a good note with lots of promises for the Nigerian people. But the question has been whether the House has met the aspiration of the people in the last 18 months since its inauguration.
Interestingly, the current Assembly under the leadership of Abbas Tajudeen, a Prince of the Zazzau Emirate has recorded a number of first. It is the first Assembly in the history of the National Assembly to host an open parliament where it gave account of its stewardship. It is also the first to host what it called sectorial debate, bringing high calibre members of the Executive to interface with the lawmakers on the activities of the government. Even though, only two editions of were held, bringing the Security Chiefs to parliament and the Minister of Finance, it is on record that the House achieved a great deal of successes with these interactions. In addition, the Abbas led Assembly is the first to hold series of citizens engagement on various sectors of the Nigerian society, ranging from security, women, youths, local government reform and state police among others. The outcome of these engagement has no doubt shaped the performance of the House in the last 18 months. Also, the House became the first to hold a public engagement with Nigerian youths twice in one year, while trying to fathom into governance, the needs of the Nigerian youth, the first to have a one-day Speaker, the first to have almost every single member of the parliament occupy a position of authority either as Chairman or deputy of a standing committee of a parliamentary friendship group. However, only a handful of the members are still without any headship of such committees.
Speaking on the successes of the Open parliament where the House gave account of its activities and other public engagements of the House, Speaker Abbas said the feedback gathered was instrumental in refining the operations of the House, particularly in oversight, constituency outreach, constitutional review, and representation. He said “the positive outcomes of this initiative have inspired today’s ‘State of the House’ interactive session— a platform to update you on our progress and extend our best wishes for the upcoming year. This session serves multiple objectives: first, to provide a thorough update on our activities since our last gathering; second, to convey our sincere appreciation for the invaluable support and feedback we have received from citizens through public hearings, constituency interactions, and various channels; and lastly, to reaffirm our steadfast commitment to transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness”.
In the first 18 months of the House, it has passed about 89 significant bills aimed at impacting positively on the lives of Nigerians while constantly collaborating with the executive arm of government to move the country forward. Among the bills that has been passed by the House include the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, 2023 which seeks to ensure efficient management of the electricity sector to deliver power to all Nigerians at an affordable rate and encourages investment in renewable energy and enhances the power sector’s efficiency; the Federal Audit Service Act (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which strengthens financial oversight and combats corruption; the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (Repeal and Enactment) Bill, 2023, which modernises the nation’s criminal justice system to ensure fairness and uphold human rights; and the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons Bill, 2023, aimed at bolstering national security and curbing violence.
It also include Niger Delta Development Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the South East Development Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2023, the North West Development Commission bill, the South West Development Commission bill the Nigerian Medical Research Council (Establishment) Bill, 2023, the Federal Fire and Rescue Service Bill, 2023, and the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2024 among others. Speaker Abbas believed that the House has consistently demonstrated its commitment to oversight and public engagement, playing a vital role in mediating conflicts, notably facilitating dialogues with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to avert nationwide strikes, resolving disputes with the Nigerian Teachers Union to minimise disruptions in the education sector, and engaging with the Nigerian Medical Association to address crucial healthcare issues.
He said “we have actively advocated for gender equality and necessary constitutional reforms. The House has championed increased representation of women in governance and partnered with organizations such as UN Women to promote gender equality. We recognize the economic challenges arising from recent reforms, including removing subsidies”.
One of the critical decisions taken by the House that has drawn public commendation was the decision to donate 50 percent of their salaries to the support government efforts to mitigate these challenges’ faced by vulnerable Nigerians. According to the Speaker, these efforts which started in July yielded over N704 million at the end of five months. The money is to be handed over to the President by the Leadership of the House. In the year under review, the House also made significant donation to cushion the pains of the devastating flood in Borno and the tanker fire disaster in Jigawa.
The House has also shown determination to ensure that Nigerians enjoy the oil wealth in the country through the development of the oil and gas sector through the investigation of activities in the sector. Ven though these investigations has not yielded much dividends, the House is working to bring together players in the sector to ensure that the gain inherent in the sector is maximized. As part of this effort, the leadership of the House intervened in the controversy between the NNPCL and Dangote Refinery. The visit was to ensure the commitment of the House to addressing issues affecting the refinery, improving the ease of doing business, promote transparency and provide equal opportunities to all players in the oil industry. He said the House was “working diligently to create a more business-friendly environment through legislative reforms that streamline processes, reduce bureaucracy, and enhance transparency. Our goal is to make Nigeria an attractive destination for both local and international investors”.
Abbas said “every Bill we pass, and every debate we hold must reflect the will of the people. Our actions in this chamber bear significant responsibility for the development and stability of Nigeria. Let us all approach our duties with renewed vigour, mindful of the aspirations of the millions of Nigerians we represent. While undertaking our constitutionally assigned roles, we must remain mindful that the progress we aspire to can only be realised through strong collaboration with the Executive. While safeguarding our independence as a legislative body, we are committed to working in harmony with the Executive for the greater good of Nigeria. Our joint efforts are vital to securing economic stability, enhancing security, and fostering national development. This partnership is anchored on mutual respect, transparency, and a shared vision for the future of our nation.
The ugly
The first 18 months of the House has not been all rosy. Several promises of the House remain unkept especially. One major one is the promise to hold a legislative security summit before the end of 2024. While security remain a critical aspect of the House Legislative Agenda, the plan to hold the summit failed to materialise during the year. Although it formed part of the legislative agenda of the House, there was no reason adduced for the failure of the House to hold the summit. But this may not be unconnected with the fact that the there is an existing holistic recommendation by the previous summit held by the 9th Assembly on how to reform tackle the security challenges in the country. Inspite of the failure to hold the security summit, the Speaker believe that Security remains a top priority for this House. He said “the safety and well-being of every Nigerian are non-negotiable. We will continue collaborating with the Executive and relevant agencies to combat insecurity in all its forms. Legislative reforms will be prioritised to strengthen our security institutions, ensuring they respond more to emerging challenges. We commend the President for signing the Counter-Terrorism Bill into law, marking a crucial step in strengthening our collective fight against insecurity across the nation”.
The speaker had promised that the House will hold what he called a “high-level Legislative Security Summit in the final quarter of the year to address Nigeria’s urgent security challenges by bringing together key stakeholders, including the Executive, security agencies, policy experts, and civil society organisations. The focus will be on legislative reforms to strengthen the capabilities of our security institutions, improve inter-agency collaboration, and optimise the use of intelligence in tackling insurgency, banditry, and other security threats. In addition, the summit will explore approaches to community policing, securing borders, and integrating advanced technology into national defense”.
In the same vein, the majority of the issues outlined in the agenda of the House for 2024 failed were not implemented, while the house oversight failed to achieve the needed reform as planned by the House. The penchant of MDAs to refuse legislative summon has increased as agencies of government now refuse summon by House committees to account for their allocation. This has led to the House Committee on Public Account recommending the delisting of about 21 of them from the 2025 budget for refusing to come before it to account for how they spent their allocation for the 2020 financial year in view of the query from the office of the Auditor General for the Federation. The agencies include the National Examination Council, University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Federal Medical Centre, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Nigeria Police Force among others. Bamidele Salam, Chairman of the Committee said the agencies persistently failed to comply with the summon from the House aimed at scrutinising their financial operations. He said “the financial regulations empower the National Assembly to exclude any ministry, department or agency that fails to account for their previous appropriations. As such, the listed MDAs should be excluded from the 2025 budget until they appear and provide the necessary clarification”. Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio is not impressed by this attitude of the MDAs and made this known to the President during the 2025 budget presentation, requesting all the President to direct all heads of MDAs to always honour parliamentary summon as it was key to having a cordial working relationship between the executive and the legislature.
In addition to the flagrant disregard for parliamentary summons during the year by government agencies, the non-attendance of plenaries by majority of members is another major minus for the House during the outgoing year. Since inauguration, the House has not had the compliment of two third of its members attending plenary. It is also an irony that members of a parliament dedicated to building a developed country stay away from plenary meeting where major decisions of the House are taken. Only a few members can actually boost of meeting the constitutional threshold of 180 days attendance of plenary. However, it was discovered that majority of members either come to the chamber, register their names n attendance register and disappear, or stay back in their offices while critical decisions affecting the country and their constituencies are being taken. The excuse given for the near empty chamber has always been that members are either attending committee meetings or engaged in oversight activities outside the parliament. This
Another minus for the House during the year is the quality of motion brought to the House as urgent motions. According to the House standing order, for a motion to qualify as urgent, it must be an issue that need urgent attention so that nothing adverse will happen. But only a few of the motions adopted as urgent has been motions that could have been listed on the order paper as motions on notice. These include motion on flood, road construction, health centre construction among others and many others that could qualify for local government motions. But as representative of the people, many members are of the view that the concern of their people must be taken care of.
One area that may have affected the performance of the 10th Assembly in its first 18 months in the fact that about to percent of them are new members lacking in experience on legislative matters. 1desire of the leadership to ensure that members are trained in the rudiments of parliamentary work through the Parliamentary Development Programme initiated by the speaker and supported by the United Nations development programme. There is no doubt that strong and capable legislature is central to driving the reforms needed for Nigeria’s development as many of the critical reforms needed in Nigeria today can only be implemented through the legislature’s lawmaking and oversight roles.
Also, during the year under review, the House pay close attention to issues affecting women and youth because in the words of the Speaker, empowering women is not only a moral and democratic imperative, but also a strategic economic necessity. He said “Women bring unique perspectives influencing vital issues, from healthcare to economic policy, creating legislation that resonates with millions. McKinsey estimates that closing gender gaps could add $12 trillion to the global GDP by 2025, underscoring the immense untapped potential of women’s inclusion. Thus, increased representation of women is not a luxury but a necessity for sustainable national development and stability. Around the world, and particularly in Africa, we see encouraging examples of gender inclusion. Rwanda, with over 60 per cent women representation in its parliament, has shown us that robust, intentional policies work. South Africa, Namibia, and Senegal have all taken significant strides toward inclusivity, reshaping their political landscapes in ways Nigeria can learn from. These countries have demonstrated the profound impact of women’s perspectives on governance and development. For Nigeria, the current numbers are disheartening. Since 1999, women’s representation in our National Assembly has remained disappointingly low. Despite notable contributions from Nigerian women across various sectors, only 20 of the 469 seats in our National Assembly are occupied by women. This stark gap speaks not of a lack of capable women but of institutional barriers we must dismantle”. While the issue of women representation remained a constitutional issue, it is left to be seen how the parliament intend to achieve this major milestone. Experience has shown that in the last assembly, many of those who spoke loudly in support of women inclusion voted against the women bills. Although the House is constantly getting the buy in of state Houses of Assembly in most of its constitutional alteration process, it is left to be seen whether they will be able to achieve enough women inclusion at the end of the ongoing constitutional alteration process.
The defection of some members of the opposition to the All-Progressives Congress is another development in the House within the year under review. The Defection saga began with a member of the defection of a member of the African Democratic Congress ADC to the APC, then followed by three members of the PDP and five members of the Labour Party. This has increased the number of APC members in the House. But that was not without protest from the opposition who claimed that the constitutional provisions were not met before the defection. They argued that rather than allow the defection to stand, the seat of the defecting members should be declared vacant. But their protest did not yield any result. But one thing that has worked positively for the Abbas led Assembly is the fact that he has been able to carry every member of the Parliament along in the activities of the House. However, the seeming lack of a virile opposing voice is another minus for the House and to democratic practice in the country.
