X-Raying the Achievements of the 9th House in Green Chamber of National Assembly

 

 

Jonas Ezieke, Abuja

 

The inauguration of the 9th House of Representatives and indeed National Assembly of the 4th Republic of Nigeria’s democratic experiment in  government at all levels in Nigeria came with huge expectations from all and sundry due to the long period of military incursion into the politics of the country before the advent of democracy on May 29, 1999 almost twenty three years ago.

 

The inauguration of the 9th House by the then Clerk to the National Assembly Alh.Ataba Sanni Omolori no doubt signaled the re-enactment of one of the tenets of democracy which is periodic, free, fair and competitive election of government functionaries at both the executive and legislative arms.

 

The emergence of Sen Dr Ahmad Lawan and Hon.Femi Gbajabiamila both fifth term lawmakers as Senate President and Speaker of the upper and lower chamber of the apex legislature also gave some measure of hope to the Nigerian citizens that the legislative institution may be on track to the El-dorado

 

And so on June 11, 2019 when the new speaker mounted the rostrum and gave his inaugural speech, he promised to use the instrumentality of the powers of the legislative institution as enshrined in the section 4 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended ) to tackle societal problems.

 

Gbajabiamila who emerged the number for citizen after his second attempt for the coveted position and won the speakership election with a huge margin of  358 votes against Hon. Umaru Bago’s 78 votes, as second term lawmaker from Niger State signaled his acceptance by his colleagues.

 

 

And so as soon as the House was inaugurated, the House Legislative Agenda was unveiled to signal the commitment of the House to break new frontiers in its lawmaking, representation and oversight constitutional functions.

 

The document crafted by an Ad-hoc Committee on Legislative Agenda led by an erudite scholar and emeritus Professor of Political Science Prof.Julius Ihonvbere no doubt set the stage for a robust legislative work for the apex parliament

 

It enunciated the roadmaps, policy objectives and legal framework for the passage of critical legislations that would shape the operations of the key drivers of the economy of Nigeria from both the public and private sectors.

 

Among others the legislative instrument set out to achieve an early passage of the annual budgets of the federal government which hitherto had suffered prolonged delays in the previous assemblies thereby affecting the implementation of key priorities of the government in ministries and agencies

 

 

 

It also provides that the legislative institution would pass key legislations that would rejuvenate the economy and set the nation on the path of growth and development.

 

Most importantly, the House vowed to tackle the monster of corruption and to expose inefficiency, waste and mismanagement of public resources by public office holders in line with the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria in Section 88 and 89 (as amended)

 

And so, in his speech to unveil the agenda, the Speaker said he would shake the table and warned that henceforth any head of agency who refuses to defend the expenditure of the previous budget allocation to his or her establishment would get any allocation of funds to operate in the next budget

 

Since then, the House has marked two different anniversaries on successful implementation of its agenda and true to its promise they passed the annual budgets of the 2019, 2020 and 2021 before the end of these years.

 

The House also have passed key legislations in the key sectors of the nation’s economy including the Revised Petroleum Industry Bill now Petroleum Industry Act PIA, the Police Reform Bill, Money Laundering Bill, Electoral Act Amendment Bill and other legislations.

 

In the area tackling corruption, the House had conducted many public and investigative hearings on key issues in the implementation of government policies in its attempt at plucking the loopholes  in extra-budgetary expenditure in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAS of government

 

In terms of government borrowings, the House had approved many requests from President Muhammadu Buhari to borrow finds from the Chinese Exim Bank and other multilateral lending institutions in order to Fastrack government interventions in infrastructures.

 

 

The green chamber had also approved the similar requests from the Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces for virement of funds from the annual budgets to ensure the completion of some critical projects including power, rail and road project.

 

Most importantly, the House Leadership have consistently intervened in the  wake of the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic by passing some key interventionist legislations that helped in containing the spread not the disease in Nigeria

 

The House in conjunction with the Senate approved special funds for security agency and help in placing some of these agencies in the first line charge of the annual federal government budgets

 

Most importantly, the House Leadership have consistently intervened in resolving so many disputes and industrial crisis between the federal government and striking workers and had been able to resolve some of them.

 

The House under the current Speaker Hon Femi Gbajabiamila had been able to smoothen the relationship between the legislative and executive arms of government with the quick responses given  requests for approval of funds and other correspondences from the Presidency.

 

The House had always concurred with the Senate in the passage of some contentious legislations including the new amended Electoral Act 2022 which was refused assent by President Muhammadu Buhari due to the inclusion of only direct primary in the document as the mode of election of candidates of political parties for polls.

 

No doubt the 9th House of Representatives under the current Speaker RT Hon.Femi Gbajabiamila  is the House of the Nigerian people and have been able to perform its legislative duties of lawmaking, representation and oversight of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAs of the federal government creditably for the benefit of the over 200 million citizens of Nigeria.