The legislature is regarded by many as the beacon of democracy. It is the only institution of governance that does not exist during the military as it is often suspended, while the military performs its role. It is also the closest level of government to the people. Twenty-five years after the return to civil rule, TONY AKOWE examines how the National Assembly has fared.
The return to democracy in 1999 and the government’s inauguration on May 29, 1999, paved the way for the return of the National Assembly, which was suspended with the military’s intervention in governance. With the proclamation of former President Olusegun Obasanjo under the provision of the 1999 constitution, the National Assembly was inaugurated on June 3, 1999. Before then, the last time the National Assembly held any session was in 1993 when General Sani Abacha dissolved the National Assembly and took over government following the now famous June 12 presidential elections. The parliament has remained, growing from strength to strength. In addition, it has developed institutions that will aid in the research and development of manpower for the legislature. The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies and the National Assembly Library and Research Centre are two institutions.
During the first eight years after the return to civil rule, both chambers of the National Assembly did not have a stable leadership. The House of Reps settled its leadership tussle earlier than the Senate. The first speaker of the House had a forged certificate. The discovery paved the way for the emergence of another speaker. Aside from that event early in the life of the parliament, which gave rise to two speakers in one year (Salisu Buhari and Ghali Umar Na’abba), the leadership crisis in the 6th Assembly when Patricia Etteh was impeached as Speaker and Dimeji Bankole enthroned, the House has had steady leadership over the years.
In 25 years, the House has produced nine speakers and eight deputy speakers. The speakers are Salisu Buhari (Kano) whose tenure was short-lived by certificate scandal, Ghali Umar Na’abba (Kano), Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Patricia Etteh (Osun), Dimeji Bankole (Ogun), Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto), Yakubu Dogara (Bauchi), Femi Gbajajabiamila (Lagos) and the current Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen (Kaduna). The deputy speakers are Chibudum Nwuche (Rivers), Austin Okpala (Rivers) Babaginda Ngoroje (Taraba), Usman Bello Nafada (Gombe), Emeka Ihedioha (Imo), Yusuf Lasun (Osun), Ahmed Idris Wase (Plateau) and the current Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu (Abia). Interestingly, since 1999, the South-south, Southeast and North Central have never produced the speaker of the House of Representatives. In the Senate, the president of the Senate had continued to elude the Northwest and the Southwest; the two regions with the highest voting population in the country. Of the two, only the Southwest is yet to produce a presiding officer for the Senate, having not occupied the position of deputy Senate president also since 1999. The Senate Presidency has rotated between the Southeast (1999 to 2007), North Central (2007 to 2019), Northeast (2019 to 2023) and South-South (2023 to date). On the other hand, the position of the deputy Senate president has been occupied by the North Central, Southeast, South-South and Northwest, which currently occupies it. The deputy speaker’s position has rotated between the South-South, the Southeast, the Northeast, the Southwest and the North Central.
The National Assembly has recorded several landmark achievements in the last 25 years. One of the achievements is killing the third-term ambition of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. While many believed that the idea of having a third term was foisted on him by Nigerians, the National Assembly declined to amend the constitution to allow for any sitting president or governor to have a third term in office. Senator Ken Nnamani who was Senate President during the third term struggle said the decision to adjourn the Senate contributed to killing the third-term dream as it afforded the senators in support of the idea to have a rethink.
Speaking at the public presentation of his book “Standing Strong: Legislative Reforms, Third Term and Other Issues of the 5th Senate” in 2021, Nnamani said the fact that the consideration of the constitution review was broadcast live also forced some of the lawmakers to change their minds. He added: “I wanted senators to vote with their conscience on the issue of Obasanjo’s third term bid. I also wanted their votes to represent the views of their constituents.
“To be an informed trustee, the senators need to understand the view of their constituents before casting their votes. On this basis, the Senate adjourned to allow the lawmakers to consult with constituents about the constitutional amendment. With this intervention, some senators returned with enlightened views. We decided to televise the proceedings. Publicizing the proceedings was not supported by those who wanted to smuggle the tenure extension through undefined procedures into the Constitution. They knew that if we had sidelined Nigerians from the proceedings, and reduced public pressure on the legislature, it would be possible to ram through, but I stood strong. We overcame intense pressure even from the highest level of government.”
The doctrine of necessity adopted by the parliament in 2010 to save the country from a major crisis is another landmark achievement. Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution requires the president to transfer power to his deputy while he is away or unable to perform his duties. This section states that the president shall, whenever he is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, transmit a written declaration to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives to that effect. This would empower the vice president to function as the acting president until the president transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary. This legislation came against the background of the attempts to sideline the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan from becoming acting president when his principal, Umar Musa Yar’Adua took ill and did not transmit a written declaration to the National Assembly that he was away from the country.
The passage of the bill establishing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to address the challenges in the region is another major landmark decision of the National Assembly. It however became the one instance when the parliament exercised its power to override a presidential veto. Even though the lawmakers have passed several bills that should impact the lives of the Nigerian people positively, past presidents have vetoed those bills, stopping them from becoming laws for one reason or the other. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had vetoed the NDDC bill. But in line with the constitutional provision, the House of Representatives overrode the veto on June 3, 2000, with an overwhelming vote of 302, with one voting against and three abstaining. Four days later, on June 7, the Senate passed the bill overriding the president’s veto, thus giving birth to the NDDC.
After the NDDC Act, there have been several opportunities for the National Assembly to exercise the constitutional power of overriding presidential veto but failed to do so. For example, in 2018, the parliament attempted unsuccessfully to override President Buhari’s veto of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. This compelled the country to use the 2015 Electoral Act for the 2019 general election. Many felt that the disagreement between the legislature and the executive at the time was an opportunity to achieve that. But, they failed to use it to their advantage. This also happened in 2021 during the making of the 2022 Electoral Act. On several occasions, during the making of the law, the president had to return the Electoral Act to the parliament with one excuse or the other until it was finally signed on February 25, 2022, to allow for its use for the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
Another opportunity to override the president’s veto came through a constitutional amendment in 2023. The 9th National Assembly, even though considered by many as a rubber stamp assembly carried out one of the most comprehensive reviews of the 1999 constitution. The president failed to assent to about 16 such alterations sent to him by the National Assembly after concurrence by state Assemblies. The constitution provides that “a bill for the alteration of the provisions of this constitution passed by the National Assembly as aforesaid shall be presented to the president for assent”. It also states that “where the president withholds assent, the bill shall be sent back to the National Assembly, which may, by a two-thirds majority vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, pass the bill again, and the assent of the President shall not be required.” In other words, if the president vetoes a constitutional amendment bill, the National Assembly can override the veto by passing the bill again with a two-thirds majority in both chambers. After that, the president’s assent is no longer required for the bill to become a part of the Constitution. This explained why senior lawyers wanted the National Assembly to override President Buhari’s decision to withhold assent to 16 of the Constitution Alteration Bills in 2023.
The Police Act and the Customs and Excise Management Act passed by the 9th National Assembly are part of the landmark laws passed by the National Assembly since 1999 to bring reforms to the two agencies. Interestingly, before the passage of the CEMA Act in 2023, the Customs Act had not been amended for over 60 years, thereby making reforms in the agency cumbersome. In addition, some agencies and institutions have come into existence through Acts of Parliament. For instance, the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which was passed by the 9th Assembly, is one such landmark legislation. As a bill, the PIA reportedly scaled through after about 20 years in parliament and provides a legal, governance, regulatory, and fiscal framework for developing and managing the Nigerian petroleum industry and developing host communities.
However, one legislation that has the potential to liberalise the information-gathering and governance process is the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act which supports accountability, openness, and good governance. The law seeks to promote an open and democratic society by giving the people access to information, especially from government agencies. Even though it was first introduced to parliament in 1999, it was not until 2011 that it was finally signed into law by former President Jonathan finally signed it into law on May 28, 2011.
Not Too Young to Run Bill is one of the constitutional amendments by the 8th Assembly allowing younger persons to contest elective positions. It reduced the age qualification for presidents from 40 to 30, governors from 35 to 30, senators from 35 to 30, House of Representatives membership from 30 to 25, and state legislatures from 30 to 25.
The disability bill, which aims to curb discrimination against persons with disabilities, was passed in 2016. The bill was signed into law by then-President Muhammadu Buhari on January 23, 2019. The Disability Act prohibits all forms of discrimination on the grounds of disability and imposes a fine of N1 million for corporate bodies and N100,000 for individuals, or a term of six months imprisonment for violation. It gave a moratorium of five years before coming into full operation. It provides for public institutions to put in place additional facilities that will aid persons with disabilities in having access and moving freely.
The National Health Bill signed into law in 2014 clearly defines the various roles and functions to be played by the three tiers of government on health-related issues. It was expected to help Nigeria achieve universal health service, guarantee improvement in the health sector, regulate healthcare practice, promote professionalism among healthcare providers set standards for healthcare services rendered across Nigeria and help eliminate medical quacks in the system.
Unfortunately, the parliament has been weak in the area of oversight, while doing so much in the area of representation. Today, respect for the parliament by several agencies of government is lacking and nothing has been done to punish any of these agencies aside from mere threats of warrant. Section 88 of the constitution grants them the power to summon anybody to come and answer questions in the parliament, while Section 89 grants them the power to issue a warrant of arrest for anyone who fails to honour its invitation.
Francis Waive, Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business believe that in 25 years of legislative democracy, the National Assembly has matured so much and has impacted the lives of the Nigerian people through representation. He said the lawmakers have passed a series of legislations that have had a direct impact on the lives of the people, in addition to the zonal intervention programmes otherwise known as constituency projects. He believes that the only federal presence in some local government areas across the country today is the constituency projects initiated by members of the National Assembly.
