By Benjamin Atu
The worst nightmare to an arm dealer is for a government to
make move for a peace deal. The same is true with importers. And today,
that has become the case of the executive arm of the present
administration. The move by the National Assembly to do their legislative
business, has suddenly become a threat and a nightmare to the executive arm
of government who perceive the National Assembly as a spy to their
activities. The work of the legislature is beyond mere talking. It also
includes monitoring of the budget which is their oversight functions. A
decision by the National Assembly by way of motions or resolutions should
be a matter of urgent public importance that the executive must move to
implement. This is because the National Assembly does their job through
motions and resolutions. But today, the resolutions of the National
Assembly are not been implemented as expected by the executive who has
erroneously perceived the National Assembly as a mere talking factory.
Bills and Resolutions are the legislative frame work that
calls for executive actions for the purpose of making life more meaningful
for our people. These Bills and resolutions by the National Assembly are
usually ignored and not implemented by the executive arm of government
without explanation. Motions have no legal force but moral force, poor
implementation of these motions render the collective wisdom of the Senate
to naught. No matter how wonderful a Bill or Motion may be, the executive
always perceived matter of urgent public importance and legislative
resolutions as a threat and mere expression of the opinion of parliament.
This is not common in the National Assembly. Most State Houses of
Assembly’s resolutions has never been implemented by the executive apart
from executive Bills that emanates from the government.
Since the inception of Democracy in 1999 till date, one
crucial cry of the public has been the need for an effective and a truly
independent legislature that has the courage to check mate the actions and
inactions of government. Today Like never before: the Nigerian Legislators
has woken up to do the legislative business as it ought to be done, however
the executive Cabal In the Presidential Villa has vowed to frustrate the
efforts of parliament by not honouring their terms of invitation. The
executive arm of government has eaten deep into the Congress such that they
now perform some major task of the National Assembly. A resistance to this
crude practice is the reason for the ongoing crisis between the both arms
of government.
The executive arm of government have always perform
constitutional function of the Senate. A clear example is the domestication
of treaties. Several treaties have been entered between Nigeria and the
International Community but such treaties were either done without the
knowledge of the Senate or it has never been made available to the Senate
for domestication. Of what use entering into treaties with other nations
when such laws are never localise for Nigerians who are suffering to
benefit from them ?
Rotimi Olawale assert in his view that ” International
treaties will remain mere Documents if their significant is not felt by the
people in those countries.” ‘Over the years Nigeria has ratified several
International treaties on Environment, Violence, Child Right, Trade etc but
many of these treaties are not operational in the country because they have
not been domesticated, this make them ordinary document. The question could
rightly be ask. Whose duty is it to domesticate treaties ? the executive
or the legislature? Is it the duty of the legislature to go to the
executive to retrieve treaties ? Or the function of the executive to
present treaties to the National Assembly? the Nigeria constitution will
assist us in answering these question.
Section 12(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria have it boldly written that “No treaty between the Federation and
other country shall have force of law except to the extent to which such
treaty has been enacted into law by the National Assembly.” But what we
have experienced since 1999 is the signing of treaties by the executive and
domesticate such treaties by themselves. A refusal to make treaties
available to the National Assembly can be assumed as self domestication. As
at today the National Assembly have no full knowledge of the number of
treaties that the Nigerian government has enter with other nations of the
world. That is a major reason why we have never benefited from
International treaties. No matter how important the issue a treaty
addresses, it is not applicable in the Nation’s domestic law or legal
system until it is domesticated by the National Assembly.
A typical example is the African Union Convention for the
Protection and Assistance of International Displaced Persons in Africa. The
Convention was adopted in October 2009. Quoting Rotimi “As of 2015 it has
been signed by 40 and ratified by 24 of the 54 Members State of the African
Union. Article 5(4) specifically established the responsibilities for
protection of internally displace persons whose displacement is as a result
of natural or human made Disaster including Climate Change. However Nigeria
among other nations signed and approved the ratification of the African
Union’s Kampala Convention for the Protection and Assistance of IDPs in
Africa on 12th April, 2012 yet this convention has not been domesticated in
Nigeria.
The National Assembly must renewed their vigor with the
executive in order to reduce the burden on the finance of the nation
through International Interventions and Assistance. “This is a critical
issue because Millions have been sacked in Nigeria due to Violence, and
Climate Change, between July and October 2012 alone, according to the
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in a published report
7.7millions out of 2.1million people were internally displaced. Despite the
large number of displacement in Nigeria and the challenges confronting us,
the National Assembly is yet to domestic the Kampala Convention on IDPs. We
must wake up as a nation to seek international assistance for our dying
brothers and sisters.
The sudden disregard for the National Assembly has become a
thing of concern to all Nigerians. The present administration has made us
to know that all Nigerians are not equal. Some are more Nigerians than the
others. The SGF and the CG of Custome and others are more Nigerians than
the rest of us. Even the Senate President, Saraki was summon to appear by
the Senate Committee on Ethics and Public Pertitions on allegations
against him for alleged imported jeep. At his level, He obeyed the
invitation to clear his name. Yet some Nigerians are above the same Senate.
According to Saraki he said ” “We must protect this Institution that is why
I took my time to be here to clear my name and charges against me.” Senator
Dino Milaye was also accused he also humble himself and appear before the
same Senate committee. If the righteous shall scarcely be save where shall
the ungodly be?
“Every Act Reward Itself ” The current attack against the
members of the National Assembly and religious leaders in this country has
taking a demonic dimension that needed divine Intervention. This was why
the Ekiti State Governor in his recent publication, urged Nigerians to
resist what he described as the rascality of Presidency officials who he
said are bent on destroying our hard-earned democracy and emasculating the
National Assembly. The governor said: “The major difference between
democracy and dictatorship is the presence of the legislature in democracy
and its absence is a dictatorship”, adding that efforts by this
administration “to hand-cuff the National Assembly is a subtle plot to
foist full-blown dictatorship on Nigerians. He therefore charged Nigerians
to resist such development, saying: “In doing so, we shall be defending our
democracy and we shall also be defending ourselves and generations of
Nigerians yet unborn. This democracy cost us a lot in blood and sweat. The
labour and sacrifice of the heroes and heroines of our democracy must not
be allowed to go in vain”, he said.
As a Media practitioner, we may not have the power to
physically speak but our Poisonous Pen will do the talking for us. Bob
Nester Marley said “You can fool some of the people all the time and all of
the people some of the time but you cannot fool all the people all the
time. Stand up for your right. It is only in Nigeria that I have seen that
it is wrong to stand up for your right. Simply because the 8th Senate stood
for their right and refused to be rubber stamp Senate that is the reason
behind all these attack and unnecessary investigation to unearth the past
of Senators. Those who are paid to embarrass others should remember the
great words of the American Philosopher and Poet Ralph Emerson who said
“Every Act Rewards itself. The longer the reward is withheld, the better or
the worse for you Because compound interest upon compound interest…….”
Martin Luther King Jr once lament “If a man is call to
Sweep Street he should Sweep Street.” The only way the legislature make
their laws is by talking and deliberation but Nigerians woke up recently
with a surprise that the a member of the Buhari cabinet wrote a letter
directing the Senate by drawing a limitation for them to obey.
The fact that the previous Senate was rule by the executive doesn’t give
the current executive the power to write to the Senate. Not even a
president of a country can determine the agenda of an independent
institution of government like the National Assembly. It is the same thing
as writing a letter to the Chief Judge of a court to direct him or her to
deliver what you have written as his judgement for a case based on your
interest.
According to the Nigerian Constitution, “Whatever the
National Assembly is empower to make laws on, it is also empower to
oversight. That singurla sentence brings all Nigeria Institutions under the
National Assembly of Nigeria. This is because the National Assembly is
Empowered to amend the Constitution and the Constitution define the
limitation of all government Institutions. If the office of the Custome CG
and the SGF or Attorney General are not operating under the Nigerian
Constitution, then they can disregard the Senate and we own them apologies
but if the laws by the Senate includes them, then the Senate has power on
how to execute their oversight functions without interruption of any kind
from the executive arm of government. These negligence by the presidential
cabal is leading the Senate to take a drastic decision that will stop the
appointment of politicians in holding public office. The general public is
now going to suffer the offense of a cabal. We must try to separate the sin
from the sinner.
The ongoing decision by the Senate to pass Public Service
Efficiency Bill to allowed civil Servants head government agencies and
parastatarls should be re- considered very well. I have nothing against the
public service but civil servant are worst and more corrupt than the
politicians. Though public service is one of the most sustainable
Institution of government, it has played and still playing major roles in
social economic development. However the reputation of public service have
suffered from public trust and confidence in government.
In one of his many speeches Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
lamented about public service that “Members of the public had to bribe
their way through in ministries and parastertals to get attention and one
government agency had to bribe another government agency to obtain the
release of their statutory allocation of fund. The impact of official
corruption is bad and has earned Nigeria bad name both home and abroad ”
The immigration saga that cause the death of many Nigerians, many civil
servants made millions from the death of others. Currently in Nigeria the
only way to get job is to pay money to a civil servants. Risk that a
minister will be afraid to take, the lowers rank public servant will take
that same risk without considering any implications. A confirm civil
servant fear no one because he or she has attain the status of a mini god.
The Nigerian Senate should indeed consider the implications of
of the Public Service and Efficiency Bill once again. Rigid and uncritical
applications of principles to the affairs of government by civil servants
has created setbacks in giving value to government investment on projects.
Truancy and the incident of blundering officials has eaten deep into our
civil servants. Lateness to work, absconding from work, deceit, stealing
and hiding of files for various selfish reasons are detestable art that
will characterise the service at the executive level if that Bill is pass.
It is the civil servants in most cases, that usually teach the political
class how to thief and steal government fund.
The National Assembly should not forget in a hurry that the
appointment of politicians in government agencies is also one of the ways
to settle political party members for their hard work during election.
Civil Servants cannot build Institutions without the political will and
force of a Politician. The timid nature and I don’t care attitude of most
public servants will affect the performance of government if they assume
that status. The public are all aware that government is not a good
business man and that is because civil servants are not good Managers.
Therefore to effectively build our public service institution, we must
start by making the public service more attractive through computerisation
and training beyond daily routine that has weakened the sense of reasoning
of most public servants through poor human development.
As noted by Oweh, “Those opposing the National Assembly should
go and improve on their marketing skill because no amount of black mail,
propaganda or arm twisting tactics by the executive will make the Senate
compromise their stand in fighting corruption in the ministries and
agencies of government”. These are indeed tension soaked times for the
Nation. Once we get it right now we are on our way to become part of the
World powers but once we fail in building our Institutions now, we may be
returning to the dispensation where we are coming from. Oliver Goldsmith
said “All Change is not growth and all Movement is not forward” If the
Institution that represents our symbol of democracy is disregarded by those
who ought to know it’s Worth, it means we are back to dictatorship. If this
continues, the nation may be perching on the horns of dilemma, and anarchy
may be looming because Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces are Contesting
for the Soul and Direction of Nigeria.
In their recent debate at the Red chamber, the Deputy whip of
the Senate and the Senator representing Edo North Senator Francis
Alimikhena explain how Magu has been allegedly terrorizing senators. He
accuses Ibrahim Magu of sponsoring media scandals against senators.
Alimekhena alleges that since the Senate rejected Magu’s confirmation, he
has resorted to terrorizing members of the upper chamber. The senator says
President Muhammadu Buhari will be undermining the nation’s democracy if he
keeps the EFCC chairman in acting capacity”
Finally before I drop this poisonous pen that may have offended
many, I wish to apologize to as many I may have offended by my opinion.
Thomas Carlyle said “Purpolar opinion is the greatest lie in the world ” I
also wish to call on the National Assembly once again both the House of
Representatives and the Senate to establish a strategy to make their
Motions and Resolutions more forceful and give it necessary bite. The
budget of government agencies, ministries and parastertals that failed to
implement the National Assembly resolution should be reduced and critically
looked into to serve as warning to others. Time frame should be given to
ministries to implement National resolutions or be summon to explain the
neglect on the resolutions as it affects them. If this personal opinion of
my is reinvigorated I believe the Senate and the House of representatives
will be given more regards and restore their pride of place where the Both
chambers will no longer be seen as a mere talking factory who express
parliamentary opinion.
Written by Benjamin Atu
08038847596
panationalassembly@gmail.com.
Personal Assistant to Deputy Whip Of Senate. Wrote from Abuja.
Below is the picture of the National Assembly.