The 9th Assembly and the Herculean Task Ahead By David Fidelis

A Yoruba adage says ” if one of your relatives is eating harmful insects and you do not warn him, when he contacts a cough, the noise in his chest will not let you sleep”. ( Bi ara ile eni ban je kokoro buburu, bi a ko tete so fun, kerekuru re ko no je ki a sun l’oru). Before the 9th National Assembly embark on eating harmful insects, it will be wiser to warm them because we’ve seen their morning full of promises and hope. We’ve seen their morning, what about night time?

I love my dear country Nigeria, before any election, we already knows the winner whether through direct or indirect means, so it wasn’t a surprise to me at the end of the National Assembly Elections where Lawan scored 79 votes to defeat his closes river Senator Ali Ndume ( Benue) who scored 28 votes, while Senator Ovie Omo-Agege ( Edo) emerged the Deputy Senate President having defeated the 6th terms serving senator – the immediate past Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu ( Enugu). A total of 107 Senators-elect were present out of the total 109. For the House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila scored 283 votes out of 358 total votes cast ahead of his rival Umar Bago who polled 76 votes at Lower Chamber.

It is a dog in whose speed one has faith that one sends to hunt hare, perhaps, that made Lawan the preferred candidate of the ruling APC for th Senate presidency while Ndume had insisted to contest since no one personally approached him to drop his ambition of being the Senate President.

Section 4 of the constitution gives the National Assembly the legislative powers of the federation. In Section “4. (1) The legislative powers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be vested in a National Assembly for the Federation, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives. (2) The National Assembly shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation or any part thereof with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List set out in Part I of the Second Schedule to this Constitution. (3) The power of the National Assembly to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List shall, save as otherwise provided in this Constitution, be to the exclusion of the Houses of Assembly of States, amongst other responsibilities.

Questions begging for answer in the minds of helpless Nigerians is that will the 9th Assembly work independently? with the selection or election of the Preferred candidate of the President, will the 9th NASS be courageous to step on toes of the executive as regards oversight function, which is stated in sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)? The 9th Senate must be determined to investigate the conduct of government business and expose corruption and inefficiency without fear of it’s repercussions.

Yesterday, the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, reversed his appointment of Festus Adedayo as his special adviser for media and publicity. The Senate President appointed Mr Adedayo on Tuesday, but the decision was opposed by government loyalists who said Mr Adedayo has a connection with former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki concomitant with the fact that he was harsh critic of the present dispensation. With the quick rescission, it won’t be out of place to ask if Lawan will be dogged, independent and firm in decision making. Is this how he’s going to they will be controlling him like a slave? Obviously, the 9th Senate has started eating harmful insects and we need to warn them, because if they contact a cough, the noise in their chest will not let us sleep.

Without much ado, with the emergence of Senator Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe North) and Senator Ovie Omo -Agege as the Senate President and Deputy Senate President for the 9th Senate, as well as Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and his Deputy, I no longer expect the seemingly unstoppable shameless drama we usually see on the floor of the our National Assembly over which party who is in control of the Assembly.

No doubt, the new Senate President is an experienced legislator with over twenty years of service in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Therefore, he must have dugged determination and relentless struggle for patriotism that would bring about honour and glory to the 9th Senate and our dear country in general.

The 9th Assembly must move beyond rhetoric and put smiles on the faces of Nigerians through it’s constitutional responsibilities. Thank God, except for Senator Dino Melaye, we no longer have comedians like Senator Shehu Sani in the house; no more common sense and English speaking Senator Buray Bruce in the House; no more dancing Senator; no more docile Senators; no more ‘Ó to gee’, whom most people thought was the problem of the NASS.

The NASS must appoint qualified, agile, reputable and competent Senators to the various committees for such special or general purposes rather using such position to compensate bigwigs, cabals and godfathers thereby leading to the appointment of naive, incompetent, and barren brains into sensitive positions. In other words, we want patriotic senators who will avoid the usual characteristics malady of saying I support the motion and outright display of intellectual barrenness and sluggishness of the highest order at the National Assembly.

No more story, I expect nothing less of Senator Lawan’s, legislative agenda aimed to repositioning the Senate to carry out its constitutional duties of legislation, oversight and representation in an open and transparent manner; strengthen the internal operations and processes of the committees of the Senate towards efficient service delivery; take legislative action to improve national economic conditions including public finance management and national security architecture and to reduce poverty, unemployment and infrastructure deficits; Propose and implement a national planning and annual budget process that fosters collaboration between the executive and legislative arms of government; Continue with legislative action to bring to closure all outstanding legislation including the electoral act and constitution amendments bills; Deploy the use of information and communications, menate’s legislative and technology in the conduct of the administrative business, Provide effective public engagement and collaboration with communties and ensure effective communication with Civil Society Organizations and constituents.

The Senate and the House of Representatives should appoint qualified, agile, reputable and competent Senators to the various committees for such special or general purposes rather using such position to compensate bigwigs, cabals and godfathers thereby leading to the appointment of naive, incompetent, and the intellectually barren into sensitive positions.

The leadership of the 9th National Assembly must be ebullient and pragmatic enough to toe the steps of the Saraki-led NASS. One may not share in his ideals but we should give it to him for initiating ‘legislative agenda’ principles to adopt pending bills from his immediate predecessor (the 7th NASS) which he never allowed go into Oblivion. Presently, some of private and public bills suffering setback include Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), the Police Reform Bill, Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) Amendment Bill, the Gender Equality Bill and the Electoral Amendment Bill, Company Allied Matters Bill Freedom of Information Amendment Bill amongst others. The 9th NASS must take the aforementioned bills as a bills of priority.

Putting aside their differences, the 9th Senate must work with the House of Representatives, State Houses of Assembly and government at all levels to pass Bills that support government reform efforts and developmental oriented.

Indispensably, Insecurity has become a serious threat to our dear Nigeria just as law enforcement institutions suffer from crass indiscipline, lack of professionalism and improper supervision resulting in several cases of extralegal killings by security forces of innocent Nigerians. The 9th Assembly must urgently look into this so that we can sleep with our two eyes closed.

The 9th National Assembly must ensure that the principles of National Character is given upmost priority, giving a sense of belonging to the over 351 ethnic groups in Nigeria and ultimately build a nation that is strong, dynamic, progressive, truly independent, self-sufficient, scientifically and technologically great and ever ready to carve out a niche for herself in the annals of history of nations of the world.

Finally, Nigerians expect nothing short of a proactive, deligent and pragmatic 9th National Assembly.

Fidelis David O. is a Journalist and Feature Writer. fidelisdavid5@gmail.com

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