…Rates 10th Assembly Low

…Says Leadership Of Both Chambers Downgraded To Appointees Of President

Samuel Ogidan, Abuja

Former Director General of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), Malam Salihu Moh Lukman, on Tuesday said that National Assembly lacked courageous voices to checkmate the excesses of the executive.

The immediate-past National Vice Chairman, North-west, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), rated the current National Assembly leadership of Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, abysmally low.

In a statement titled, “Importance of Legislature to a Democracy,” Lukman reflected on the protest in Kenya over Finance Bill submitted to Kenyan parliament by President William Ruto, that led to protest where about 39 persons have been killed in that country and also the position of Sen. Crystal Asige on the protest, which has gone viral in social media.

Lukman said: “There is deep feeling of concerns among Nigerians that courageous voices of individual legislators in both the Senate and the House of Representatives is fading away and both chambers are becoming more like rubber stamps. Partly because of the faint or almost complete absence of courageous voices in the National Assembly, the President and the members of the Executive body of Government are practically getting away with virtually every wrong decision that are injurious to the wellbeing of Nigerian citizens.

“A good example is the impulsive declaration of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to end petroleum subsidy without any clear plan. Followed by another impulsive decision to float the Naira exchange rate against other international currencies with hardly any plan.

“The consequence of this reality is rock-bottom crash of living conditions in the country as a result of unimaginable decimation of value of incomes. Now more than one year after, there doesn’t appear to be any logical response from the government and hardly any dedicated debate in any of the two chambers in the National Assembly around these issues. Not even during the debate for the passage of the 2024 budget.

“It is no secret that Nigerians are in shock and highly disappointed by the performances of the 10th National Assembly that so far hold the most expeditious record of passage of executive bills, including the scandalous reversal to an old National Anthem that hardly makes any sense without any public hearing.”

Lamenting the sorry situation in the country over the operations of the budget, Lukman said, “as it is now, thanks to the 10th National Assembly, the President Asiwaju Tinubu’s government is operating three budgets concurrently – 2023, 2023 Supplementary and 2024 Budgets. There are speculations that a fourth – 2024 Supplementary Budget is on its way, which, if that happens, will be expressly passed and accordingly makes it the fourth concurrent budget running.”

Explaining the factors that led the nation to this present situation, the APC immediate-past National Vice Chairman, North-west, asked how did Nigeria gets to this abysmally low level of legislative practice whereby it can almost be said that in Nigeria, democracy equates darkness?

“Without going into details, combinations of many factors, which have taken place over the last 25 years are responsible. Some of the factors include the reality whereby systematically the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly have been downgraded to the status of appointees of the President. That was largely made possible by the fact that the party machinery or organs, which are supposed to serve as the platforms for negotiations have been weakened and also subordinated to the President.

“Consequently, beyond having a democracy that equates to darkness, like in the Kenyan situation described by Sen. Asige ‘unity’ is being ‘violently gunned down in the streets, not by men, but by monsters who have no concern for human lives’. Unlike in Kenya whereby the monsters are only associated with nefarious activities of trigger-happy overzealous police officers, in our context in Nigeria they are also amorphous operating as Boko Haram, bandits, kidnappers and other variants of terrorist groups in the country.

“And unlike what Sen. Asige observed with respect to Kenya that ‘although this government has demonstrated that lifeless Kenyan bodies are not to take precedence over their punitive finance bill, young Kenyans have looked their oppressors in the eyes and shown them that when it comes down to the wire, there are only two times to be brave – when you feel like it and when you don’t’, Nigerians only wish the same could be said here in our context.”

He noted that punitive policy decisions of successive Nigerian governments, including the present one are taking precedence over the life of citizens.

He said: “Fifteen trillion Naira is being expended on a costal road from Lagos to Calabar, Billions have been expended on a Presidential Yatch, Vice President accommodation, purchase of luxury vehicles for elected and appointed government officials, including members of the National Assembly, a new Presidential aircraft is about to be procured, etc. The list is almost endless and keep growing and the cost is simply punitive.

“Although young Nigerians are making every effort to engage these issues, absence of organisational strategy, compounded by lack of inclusiveness have blocked opportunities for young people in Nigeria to effectively confront our today’s forces of darkness. As a result, many are asking the question, ‘when will young Nigerians stand up and look their oppressors in the eye and show them that when it come to the wire, there are only two times to be brave – when you feel it and when you don’t’? When that time come, will Nigerians have a strong voice in the two chambers of the National Assembly to echo their grievances and speak on their behalf like Sen. Asige did for the Kenyan youth?”

Lukman pointed out that there is a complete failing on the part of the two chambers of the National Assembly and its members to serve as a check on the President and members of the Executive, adding this has created an atmosphere of denial corresponding to application of ‘brute force … against’ citizens, which means ‘brute force’ is ‘the operating system’ ‘built into the fabric of today’s government’.

“Given such unfortunate reality, innocent and law-abiding Nigerians are daily and hourly losing their lives. And like Sen. Asige rightly captured, ‘when they kill us, they are killing themselves …the arrogance from some of these top government officials has been outrageously condescending to young people, disgusting and reminiscent of narcistic abuse’.

“It must be admitted that Sen. Asige was not only a representative of Kenyans, but she is also indeed a representative of Africans.”

He however added that part of the “challenge of our democracy is that the two chambers of the National Assembly are only accountable to themselves.”