As national lawmakers prepare to reconvene April 30th, JOHN AMEH writes that some of the critical issues that await their urgent attention are the unfinished business of Abdul Ningi’s suspension, review of the country’s constitution that has been generally labelled as terribly flawed; among others.
Senators, barring additional alterations in dates, will reconvene plenary and attend to full legislative engagements on April 30 -an expected resumption flowing from the Easter and Eid-el Fitr holidays.
Just to mention that the reconvening had been postponed twice. The first set date was April 16. It was moved to April 23, then finally to April 30, both postponement for reasons ranging from seeking more time for lawmakers to deepen participation in constituency interactions, governorship primaries in Edo and Ondo states to completion of the renovation of the main chamber of the Senate – all which are now done and dusted; hence work beckons.
With some guarantee of the reconvening date, there is plenty of work awaiting the 109 members of the senior arm of Nigeria’s bi-camera National Assembly.
Led by a former Minister of Niger Delta and two-time governor of Akwa Ibom State, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, as president, the 10th Senate must quickly treat the Abdul Ningi sore it was nursing before it embarked on vacation. But the Senate must now settle down to focus on its core duties of making laws for the good governance of the country. Opinions across board suggest that the Ningi case, if not hurriedly laid to rest, will likely be a source of distractions for senators, widening the divisions among colleagues and possibly overshadowing the moderate achievements the current leadership of the Red Chamber can lay claim to ahead of its one-year anniversary on June 13.
The Senate had on March 13, 2024, suspended the Bauchi Central Senatorial District lawmaker over his N3.7 trillion ‘budget padding’ allegation. The allegation appeared to fall flat on a day Ningi, a decorated ranking senator, could not convince his colleagues on the open floor that the documents he based his conclusion on, were indeed watertight. He was subsequently slammed with a three-month suspension as the majority of senators gave their nod to the punishment. A proviso was for him to tender an apology in writing and get a recall almost immediately.The suspension generated mixed reactions across the country with prominent either endorsing the “punishment” or lampooning the Senate leadership for taking such a step.
It has yet to reach public view that Sen. Ningi tendered any apology. Rather, what lately went viral was his seven-day ultimatum to the leadership to either recall him or face legal battles over a suspension the Bauchi legislator sees as having no backing of law.
A reaction to Ningi’s threats by Akpabio is also in circulation. Soon after his aircraft touched down in Nigeria from Geneva, where he recently attended the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting, Akpabio told inquisitive reporters that much as he had not sighted Ningi’s threats, contained in a letter signed on his behalf by his counsel, Femi Falana (SAN), he was sure that Ningi’s case would be resolved in a family fashion.
His words: “It is a parliamentary decision (suspension). I have not seen the letter yet. But, Senator Ningi is one of us. I mean what is suspension?
“I believe that in a few days, he will join us. So, there is no problem. It would be resolved amicably. The Senate is a family.”
However, what is not clear is how Ningi’s recall will be effected, considering that instead of apologising to his colleagues, he resorted to issuing threats. Does it mean that he will be recalled without an apology, and a victory for Ningi? He holds his allegation as true? The Senate is afraid of going to court with him or it has somehow admitted that it suspended one of its own ‘illegally?” Will this be some kind of self-indictment? Answers are a guesswork until April 30 when expectedly, Ningi should be one of the first items on the agenda to be dispensed with in order to douse the tension at the Senate.
Constitution Review
Considering the huge work and the urgency about it, the task of carrying out drastic surgery on a constitution that has been generally labelled as highly defective can’t wait for several reasons. These include intertwined issues with further amendments to the Electoral Act that will require the combined efforts of the Senate and the House of Representatives to jump-start the first leg of the envisaged alterations to the constitution.
It is worthy to note that the Senate since February, had named over 43 senators to join the Deputy Senate President, Sen. BarauJibrin, in a committee to oversee this important task of executing further amendments to the constitution.
While constitution review has been on the schedules of successive National Assembly sets since 1999, the 10th Assembly’s is generating much interest because of the sudden support the clamour for state police has garnered. Prior to now, proposals for state police either did not pass at the National Assembly or they always met their Waterloo at the state legislatures because of the influence and firm grip of governors on that arm of government in their domains. But, with insecurity posing serious challenges to normal life across the states, governors have lately turned advocates of state police to the surprise of many observers.
As of today, a report by the National Economic Council (NEC) indicates that 16 governors have given their backing to state police. This leaves a balance of 20 states, which are likely to join the bandwagon soonest, seeing that they are aware President Bola Ahmed Tinubu too is said to be ready to go the direction of the governors if they fully endorse state police.
This is where the Jibrin committee, nay the Senate and the House of Representatives, sitting as the national legislature, comes in. The process begins with them; they have to marshal the presentation, the defence and hold the various public sittings to collate views within the time set for the job to be delivered up the state level, where two-thirds of the 36 states (24) must vote to approve state police.
The urgency for state police has also been demonstrated by the time the 10th Senate spent so far passing resolutions on how to enhance synergy between all the security agencies, inter-agency coordination and making additional budgetary provisions for procurement of equipment and training of security personnel to contain insurgency, kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery as well as other forms of criminality.
There were resolutions taken on “kidnapping for ransom in the North-West Geo-political Zone”; “Insurgency And Terrorism in Niger State”; “the abduction of students of the Federal University, Dutsima, Katsina State”; “the Displaced People of Gwer-West, Makurdi and Guma Local Governments”; fighting between Ifon and Ilobu communities in Osun State; among several others.
The Senate had equally called for “a National Policy document outlining the framework for an improved and streamlined synergy and coordination between the various security agencies” and an appeal made to the government at the centre to “address the manpower deficit in the armed forces and the police and equip them to discharge their functions effectively and efficiently.”
All of these resolutions, including those which made some recommendations on how to retool the economy, generate employment, address food inflation and stabilise the Naira/Dollar exchange rate, need proper monitoring by the Senate for compliance.
This is the time for the Senate to strengthen its oversight responsibilities and use its committee on legislative compliance to follow up on resolutions and ensure that the affected agencies or ministries of government comply, even if they are unable to achieve 100 per cent implementation.
Does the 10th Senate have a codified, launched legislative agenda? This hasn’t a straightforward answer either. The legislative agenda defines what the legislature plans to do in terms of policies, programmes to help drive governance, including key bills to be passed in the tenure.
Successive sets since 1999 have had an agenda fully publicised, helping to give direction to the focus of the Assembly. There is no concrete evidence that the 10th Senate has launched one yet with barely two months to its first anniversary. On inauguration day, Sen. Akpabio spoke to it. He also made promises about what the agenda would do at several other fora but there has been no unveiling to be sure what it’s all about.
While addressing the Public Hearing of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and Tetfund and House of Representatives Committee on “Students Loan, Scholarship and Higher Education Financing on Student Loan (Access to Higher Education), Repeal and Re-Enactment Bill 2024”, some weeks back, Akpabio had stated, “the present 10th National Assembly at its inception in 2023 set out for itself a legislative agenda whose implementation will surely bring about a tremendous improvement in the living conditions/standards of the citizenry with Mr President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.”
On the other side of the aisle, the Speaker of the 10 House of Representatives, Rep. Abbas Tajudeen, has since launched an eight-point agenda titled, ‘The People’s House.’ Top on the agenda are insecurity; further amendment of the electoral act; climate change; and redirecting Nigeria’s foreign policy.
The 9th, 8th and 7th Senates, all had their legislative agendas rolled out as quickly as possible. For instance, the 9th Senate, which was led by Sen. Ahmad Lawan, launched its LA in 2019, the same year of its inauguration, focusing on power generation, passage of PIB, agriculture and many others.
Recall that both Senate Bukola Saraki and Sen. David Mark, who led the 8th and 7th Senates respectively, made their legislative agendas readily available soon after inauguration.
Much work awaits our senior lawmakers. They are welcome, refreshed in their remodelled chamber!