Thinking Theoretically with MacHarry Confidence
Thinking Theoretically with MacHarry Confidence
Calls to Scrap the National Assembly: Starving Focus and Feeding Vultures.
The true essence of governance since the earliest times was not lost on the creators of the institution of government from prehistory, and even the Greeks from which many modern forms of government were borrowed from harped on the need for man to be free.
Tyranny and oppression was the central theme behind the facade of mutual contract and cooperation in Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan and Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Socia Contract Theory respectively, especially as both philosophers emphasized the need for order (government) from chaos, especially when an improvement from the Hobbessian state of nature in which life is nasty, brutish and short is sought.
One needs not define government, for in its evolution over the years, the true essence on the society has been on the act of overseeing and "leading", apart from guiding and making laws.
In a democracy, there is no guarantee of freedom for the citizens when the power of governance and the powers thereof is centered on one body. The theory of separation of powers is central to the theme of democracy just as a presidential system of government cannot function without the other two tiers.
The National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a bicameral legislature established under section 4 of the Nigerian Constitution. It consists of a Senate with 109 members and a 360-member House of Representatives. The body, modelled after the federal Congress of the United States , is supposed to guarantee equal representation of the 36 states irrespective of size in the Senate and proportional representation of population in the House. The National Assembly, like many other organs of the Nigerian government, is based in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja .
Since pre-independence, the Nigerian government has never been without the legislature, not because the regionalist structure being practiced from 1946-1960 mandated it not to, but because the concentration of powers on one tier of government is a recipe for tyranny, dictatorship and suppression of civil liberties.
The 1979 constitution (the second republic) also provided for a bicameral legislature in the new presidential system. Although the 1999 constitution is seen as an exact replica of the 1979 book with a few amendments, the framers of both Constitution saw the importance of a legislative arm of government, hence the creation of the Senate and the House of Representatives constitutionally empowered to make, amend and repeal laws.
The recent calls for the scrap of the national assembly is just as laughable as it is downright foolish. For what it is worth, the National Assembly doesn't exist so that lawmakers will collect jumbo pay. The main essence is to act as a check on the excesses of the Executive arm which we all know the enormous powers the 1999 constitution gives the president. In fact, ex president Goodluck Jonathan once remarked on national television that if he uses just 60% of the powers given to him as president, he would become a cruel despot!
This is one reason the legislative arm of government exists.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the national assembly since its inception in the fourth Republic has done below the expectations of Nigerians. There are many issues abound and bills aplenty which seek the attention of lawmakers, but the lot of them hardly attend sittings, and the few that do are caught napping on national television. The Petroleum Industry Bill which have been in the national assembly has been crying for amendments and assent since 2007 is one of such duties which have been neglected for far too long.
The impasse and constitutional standoffs between the executive and the legislature is nothing new and it is an integral part of every democracy. All presidents since 1999 have had their own share of their battle for supremacy with the National Assembly which have led to executive interference with the independence of the legislative arm. This may be a victory for democracy, but for national development, it is relative. Successive Senate presidents since 1999 from Chuba Okadigbo, Adolphus Wabara, Anyim Pius Anyim, Ken Nnamani, David Mark and Bukola Saraki have all had their shares of executive interference. The story of how former President Olusegun Obasanjo instituted corruption cases on Senate presidents to instigate their impeachment during his time is not lost on us.
The proponents for the scrapping of the National Assembly are irked by what they see as legislative interference and impediment on President Muhammadu Buhari's anti-corruption war. The rejection of the nomination and subsequent refusal to confirm the President's candidate for the post of the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu has widely been regarded as tool devised by the Senate to frustrate the president's anti-corruption effort. The question no one seems to be asking is: Is Ibrahim Magu the only person qualified for the job? And why is Buhari insistent upon his confirmation?
Here is a quick fact:
Since the establishment of the EFCC, all of its chairpersons have been from the North. Nuhu Ribadu, Farida Waziri, Ibrahim Lamorde, Ibrahim Magu. No southerner has ever attained that position.
Why is this so?
That's a topic for another day.
What is more interesting in this battle between the top two tiers is the corruption trials of principal an important members of the Senate, led by Abubakar Bukola Saraki. The lot of the persons who call for the scrapping of the Senate believe that Magu's confirmation will spell doom for Saraki, hence their perceived impediment of his confirmation. This is also total nonsense.
What these naysayers are supposed to be thinking and asking is why Buhari have refused to sack the secretary of the federation, Babachir David Lawal when the scandal broke out that he spent over 620 million Naira to award a grass cutting contract. To these naysayers, the president's men are Saints and at such, only members of the national assembly are corrupt.
Corruption in Nigeria is not centered on only one arm of government. It is a virus that has eaten deep into every fabric of governance, even to the judiciary. Saying the National Assembly should be scrapped because they only occupy space and do nothing is also an agitation for the elimination of the presidential arm of government.
As a matter of fact, Buhari's biggest obstacle to the anti-corruption war is the judiciary, not the National Assembly. Prominent judges have been Busted by the EFCC on corruption charges, but that's just an aside, considering the fact that judges slow down the trial which in turn drags on for many months.
For the unenlightened few who repeatedly ask what the National Assembly have done over the years, I have a few questions...
Who stopped President Obasanjo's Third Term Agenda?
How come electricity tariffs have not hit the roof?
The data hike issue of December 2016, how was it stopped?
How was Buhari's budget padding scandal exposed?
These are just a few questions these citizens should answer honestly for themselves.
Buhari, being a former General is a well-known dictator. He won the 2015 election on the mantra of being "a converted Democrat", but since May 29, 2015, we've seen flashes of executive recklessness and the usage of the Department of State Security and the EFCC to harass members of the opposition. We all know how despotic he can be, therefore scrapping NASS (the National Assembly) is akin to giving him a free rein to run the country and the cruel and despotic way he ran it from December 1983 to August 1985.
Anybody who understands the working principles of government should know that scrapping the Senate (and the House of Representatives) can only take place after a major constitutional amendment which can only be carried out by the National Assembly. No senator will vote in support of the NASS. If the resistance is good for Nigeria, they should chanel such agitation towards restructuring, otherwise it looks more or less like efforts in futility.
Our economic woes and the failures of Buhari's anti-corruption war is not as a result of what the legislative body earns or what is stolen. It is a result of institutionalization of corruption in virtually every section of governance, including the presidency.
Also, those clamoring for the scrapping of the national assembly should realize that no presidential system of government exists without the legislative arm , and so a major shake up such as this won't happen without the scrapping of the Executive arm also.
We've come a long way in the sustenance of our democracy and democratic norms. Eighteen years since the advent of the new democratic dispensation in Nigeria, and with all its snailspeed progress, it is despicable that some persons who knew how badly Nigeria suffered during military rule would call for the abolishment of the legislature.
While calling for NASS abolishment, we should put our civil liberties in mind, and while starving our focus to feed vultures of despotism, we should remember that problems or successes, they all are the results of our own actions. Karma. The philosophy of action is that no one else is the giver of peace or happiness. One's own karma, one's own actions are responsible to come to bring either happiness or success or whatever.
¶¶
MacHarry "Cowans" Confidence, an international affairs analyst and a Socio-political issues commentator, is a student of International Studies and Diplomacy, in the department of History and International Studies, University of Benin.
Calls to Scrap the National Assembly: Starving Focus and Feeding Vultures.
The true essence of governance since the earliest times was not lost on the creators of the institution of government from prehistory, and even the Greeks from which many modern forms of government were borrowed from harped on the need for man to be free.
Tyranny and oppression was the central theme behind the facade of mutual contract and cooperation in Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan and Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Socia Contract Theory respectively, especially as both philosophers emphasized the need for order (government) from chaos, especially when an improvement from the Hobbessian state of nature in which life is nasty, brutish and short is sought.
One needs not define government, for in its evolution over the years, the true essence on the society has been on the act of overseeing and "leading", apart from guiding and making laws.
In a democracy, there is no guarantee of freedom for the citizens when the power of governance and the powers thereof is centered on one body. The theory of separation of powers is central to the theme of democracy just as a presidential system of government cannot function without the other two tiers.
The National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a bicameral legislature established under section 4 of the Nigerian Constitution. It consists of a Senate with 109 members and a 360-member House of Representatives. The body, modelled after the federal Congress of the United States , is supposed to guarantee equal representation of the 36 states irrespective of size in the Senate and proportional representation of population in the House. The National Assembly, like many other organs of the Nigerian government, is based in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja .
Since pre-independence, the Nigerian government has never been without the legislature, not because the regionalist structure being practiced from 1946-1960 mandated it not to, but because the concentration of powers on one tier of government is a recipe for tyranny, dictatorship and suppression of civil liberties.
The 1979 constitution (the second republic) also provided for a bicameral legislature in the new presidential system. Although the 1999 constitution is seen as an exact replica of the 1979 book with a few amendments, the framers of both Constitution saw the importance of a legislative arm of government, hence the creation of the Senate and the House of Representatives constitutionally empowered to make, amend and repeal laws.
The recent calls for the scrap of the national assembly is just as laughable as it is downright foolish. For what it is worth, the National Assembly doesn't exist so that lawmakers will collect jumbo pay. The main essence is to act as a check on the excesses of the Executive arm which we all know the enormous powers the 1999 constitution gives the president. In fact, ex president Goodluck Jonathan once remarked on national television that if he uses just 60% of the powers given to him as president, he would become a cruel despot!
This is one reason the legislative arm of government exists.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the national assembly since its inception in the fourth Republic has done below the expectations of Nigerians. There are many issues abound and bills aplenty which seek the attention of lawmakers, but the lot of them hardly attend sittings, and the few that do are caught napping on national television. The Petroleum Industry Bill which have been in the national assembly has been crying for amendments and assent since 2007 is one of such duties which have been neglected for far too long.
The impasse and constitutional standoffs between the executive and the legislature is nothing new and it is an integral part of every democracy. All presidents since 1999 have had their own share of their battle for supremacy with the National Assembly which have led to executive interference with the independence of the legislative arm. This may be a victory for democracy, but for national development, it is relative. Successive Senate presidents since 1999 from Chuba Okadigbo, Adolphus Wabara, Anyim Pius Anyim, Ken Nnamani, David Mark and Bukola Saraki have all had their shares of executive interference. The story of how former President Olusegun Obasanjo instituted corruption cases on Senate presidents to instigate their impeachment during his time is not lost on us.
The proponents for the scrapping of the National Assembly are irked by what they see as legislative interference and impediment on President Muhammadu Buhari's anti-corruption war. The rejection of the nomination and subsequent refusal to confirm the President's candidate for the post of the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu has widely been regarded as tool devised by the Senate to frustrate the president's anti-corruption effort. The question no one seems to be asking is: Is Ibrahim Magu the only person qualified for the job? And why is Buhari insistent upon his confirmation?
Here is a quick fact:
Since the establishment of the EFCC, all of its chairpersons have been from the North. Nuhu Ribadu, Farida Waziri, Ibrahim Lamorde, Ibrahim Magu. No southerner has ever attained that position.
Why is this so?
That's a topic for another day.
What is more interesting in this battle between the top two tiers is the corruption trials of principal an important members of the Senate, led by Abubakar Bukola Saraki. The lot of the persons who call for the scrapping of the Senate believe that Magu's confirmation will spell doom for Saraki, hence their perceived impediment of his confirmation. This is also total nonsense.
What these naysayers are supposed to be thinking and asking is why Buhari have refused to sack the secretary of the federation, Babachir David Lawal when the scandal broke out that he spent over 620 million Naira to award a grass cutting contract. To these naysayers, the president's men are Saints and at such, only members of the national assembly are corrupt.
Corruption in Nigeria is not centered on only one arm of government. It is a virus that has eaten deep into every fabric of governance, even to the judiciary. Saying the National Assembly should be scrapped because they only occupy space and do nothing is also an agitation for the elimination of the presidential arm of government.
As a matter of fact, Buhari's biggest obstacle to the anti-corruption war is the judiciary, not the National Assembly. Prominent judges have been Busted by the EFCC on corruption charges, but that's just an aside, considering the fact that judges slow down the trial which in turn drags on for many months.
For the unenlightened few who repeatedly ask what the National Assembly have done over the years, I have a few questions...
Who stopped President Obasanjo's Third Term Agenda?
How come electricity tariffs have not hit the roof?
The data hike issue of December 2016, how was it stopped?
How was Buhari's budget padding scandal exposed?
These are just a few questions these citizens should answer honestly for themselves.
Buhari, being a former General is a well-known dictator. He won the 2015 election on the mantra of being "a converted Democrat", but since May 29, 2015, we've seen flashes of executive recklessness and the usage of the Department of State Security and the EFCC to harass members of the opposition. We all know how despotic he can be, therefore scrapping NASS (the National Assembly) is akin to giving him a free rein to run the country and the cruel and despotic way he ran it from December 1983 to August 1985.
Anybody who understands the working principles of government should know that scrapping the Senate (and the House of Representatives) can only take place after a major constitutional amendment which can only be carried out by the National Assembly. No senator will vote in support of the NASS. If the resistance is good for Nigeria, they should chanel such agitation towards restructuring, otherwise it looks more or less like efforts in futility.
Our economic woes and the failures of Buhari's anti-corruption war is not as a result of what the legislative body earns or what is stolen. It is a result of institutionalization of corruption in virtually every section of governance, including the presidency.
Also, those clamoring for the scrapping of the national assembly should realize that no presidential system of government exists without the legislative arm , and so a major shake up such as this won't happen without the scrapping of the Executive arm also.
We've come a long way in the sustenance of our democracy and democratic norms. Eighteen years since the advent of the new democratic dispensation in Nigeria, and with all its snailspeed progress, it is despicable that some persons who knew how badly Nigeria suffered during military rule would call for the abolishment of the legislature.
While calling for NASS abolishment, we should put our civil liberties in mind, and while starving our focus to feed vultures of despotism, we should remember that problems or successes, they all are the results of our own actions. Karma. The philosophy of action is that no one else is the giver of peace or happiness. One's own karma, one's own actions are responsible to come to bring either happiness or success or whatever.
¶¶
MacHarry "Cowans" Confidence, an international affairs analyst and a Socio-political issues commentator, is a student of International Studies and Diplomacy, in the department of History and International Studies, University of Benin.
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