The House of Representatives embarked on Christmas/New Year holidays on December 21.
Members of the House of Representatives will on Tuesday resume plenary after their 27 days Christmas/New Year holiday.
The federal lawmakers proceeded on the holiday on December 21. Before the holiday, they had worked on and passed some resolutions and important bills including the controversial Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Upon resumption, the lawmakers are expected to continue with some unfinished businesses, engage in some more crucial matters and pass bills, especially with their tenure drawing closer to an end.
Although, the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, had promised that the lower chamber will work until its final day, there is the likelihood that they may be slowed down by political activities which have picked up in the last few weeks.
“By the time we resume next year, we will be closer to the end of our tenures, with national elections rapidly approaching. In the past, election years have witnessed a decline in governance activities as political pursuits cloud the calendar. That will not be the case this time around,” Mr Gbajabiamila had said.
This is one promise that may be hard to keep, considering that the House had struggled last year to meet up its 181 sitting days stipulated by the constitution.
Nevertheless, the lawmakers are expected to attend to some unresolved issues and work on important bills that may impact on the lives of Nigeria.
Some of the issues are:
Electoral Bill
Before the House embarked on holiday in December, President Muhammadu Buhari notified the lawmakers of his decision to reject the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which the National Assembly had in November passed and transmitted to him for assent.
The controversial clause 87, which is stalling the bill, was proposed by the Speaker, hence, the House has a major stake in the consideration of the clause. However, it appears the House is divided on the direct primaries
On the day Mr Buhari rejected the bill, the Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta) had moved that the House should consider the bill by removing the controversial direct primary clause the president raised concerns over. He argued that lawmakers can suspend their rules, re-consider the bill and pass it on the same day.
Mr Gbajabiamila while responding to the point of order moved by the minority leader, said the lawmakers should go back to their respective constituencies and consult with their constituents. He added that such urgency will be futile because the Senate must also concur with the House.
Aside from the rejection, it has also emerged that the bill has drafting-errors as exposed by some civil society organisations. PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the CSOs had in letters addressed to the Senate President and the Speaker, highlighted 10 errors in the legislation. Some of the errors range from grammatical to cross-referencing inconsistency.
When the lawmakers resume on Tuesday, Nigerians expect them to expedite action on the bill. It is unclear what the lawmakers will do. Will they override the president as advocated by some or remove the direct primary clause in compliance with the thinking of the president?
Mr Buhari had stated that he is willing to sign the bill if the controversial direct primary clause is expunged.
Constitution Amendment Bill
Another issue that will engage the attention of the lawmakers is the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.
Time appears to be running against the exercise.ⓘ
Last year, the House committee led by the Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase, held public hearings across the six geopolitical zones, to get the positions of Nigerians on the bill.
The lawmakers will have to be concerned about time, because of the long procedure involved.
For the constitutional amendments to become law, the two chambers of the National Assembly must support such bill with 2/3 of members of the respective chamber, then a minimum of 24 state Houses of Assembly must also approve the alterations made before it is transmitted to the president for signature.
As it stands, the 9th Assembly has less than 17 months to complete the constitutional alteration process, bearing in mind that electioneering may ikely disrupt governance.
Several bills to alter the 1999 constitution are currently before lawmakers. Some on devolution of power, state police, diaspora voting rights, independent candidacy, extra-seats for women, are among the constitutional alteration bills before the Green Chamber.
In the wake of recent opposition to the creation of state police by Mr Buhari, Nigerians will be keen to see how the lawmakers treat the state police bill.
In July 2021, the federal lawmakers had passed for second reading a bill by Luke Onofiok (PDP, Akwa-Ibom) which seeks to alter the 1999 Constitution by allowing states to create and maintain a police force.
Earlier in June, the House had passed for second reading a bill by Anthony Afe, which seeks to give legal backing to the creation of state security outfits by states.
In the 8th Assembly, Mr Gbajabiamila had sponsored a bill on state police. The bill sought to allow states to establish police force, however, the bill did not succeed in that Assembly.
The lawmakers will have to commence work as soon as possible for these bills to stand a chance.
Insecurity
The House may make fresh moves towards abating the nation’s security challenges, which appear to have defied solution. There were bloody incidents in some parts of the country since the lawmakers went on holiday.ⓘ
For instance, on January 7 while the lawmakers were on holiday with their families, over 200 Nigerians were killed in Zamfara State.
Unfortunately, motions on carnage are not new to the federal lawmakers. Motions on insecurity or killings have turned to weekly issues in the House.
While the expectation on the lawmakers is remarkably low, it is expected that there will be more legislative interventions on security.
Last year, the lawmakers in the lower chamber held a security summit. The summit produce about 19 actions the lawmaker opined will address insecurity in Nigeria.
According to Mr Gbajabiamila, the resolutions from the summit have been transmitted to the president for action, while others that require legislation will be addressed by the lawmakers. It is unclear how fast will the lawmakers act on these.
Recovered loot report
In May, an ad-hoc committee investigating the status of recovered loots started the probe into all the asset recovered by the government.
In the first 10 sittings, the committee had in attendance the Minister of Finance, Ahmed Zainab; the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris; the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa; the Customs Comptroller-General, Hameed Ali and several others.
During the investigation, several ministries, departments and agencies were queried by the committee, notably Mr Malami, whose office was indicted for spending from the recovered loot account, and the Accountant-General of the Federation for approving money from the account without appropriation by the National Assembly.
Promise to reduce number of MDAs
Before embarking on holiday in December, Mr Gbajabiamila had promised Nigerians that the House will consider legislative intervention in the cost of governance by reducing the number MDAs in the country.
”At the same time, we must begin also to consider options for merging agencies where there is a significant overlap in functions and responsibilities, and scrapping other institutions where their utility is no longer apparent,” Mr Gbabiamila had said while reacting to complaints of poor funding by MDAs during budget defence exercise.
It is unclear how the House intends to achieve this feat. Perhaps the House plans to adopt the Steve Oronsaye report submitted to the then President, Goodluck Jonathan, which listed several MDAs to be merged or scrapped. In 2019, the Federal Executive Council was directed by Mr Buhari to review the Oransaye report.
The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dasuki Arabi, had said that after the review, the report “will go to the National Assembly (NASS) because most of the agencies to be scrapped or merged have enabling laws. So, they must look at those laws and repeal them before we have the new agencies.
“Agencies of government are created to address specific issues at a time; just like the Gurara Water Commission that came on board when Abuja was being created; the dam has been built, we have been using the water, I think they should ease off.”
However, despite outcry over poor funding of MDAs, PREMIUM TIMES had reported how lawmakers continue to introduce establishment bills for new ones.
The lawmakers will have to address many of these issues and others in 2022.
PREMIUM TIMES
