The 7th Assembly: Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly – Asset or Liability?
The word “parliament” is derived from the Latin term parliamentum. The French verb parler means to speak, and freedom of expression is the basic means by which parliament holds government accountable.
The Legislative Assembly performs three important roles in its job of overseeing government: a Legislative/Lawmaking Role, a Financial/Oversight Role and an inquiry/Repesentation Role.
Legislative/Lawmaking Role:
The passage of laws is the function most commonly attributed to the Legislative Assembly. Because we are governed by rule of law, it is essential that each piece of legislation introduced in the Assembly is given effective consideration. To understand the legislative process, terminology is important. Legislation being considered by the Assembly is called a Bill. After a Bill is passed, it becomes a law.
Stages of a Bill:
All Bills introduced in the Assembly must go through the following stages to become law: First Reading: The Bill is introduced and read for the first time. No debate occurs at this stage. Printed copies of the Bill are distributed to members of the Assembly for further consideration. Second Reading: The lead sponsor of the Bill leads a debate on the Bill by outlining its purpose and its provisions. Other members join in debating the principle of the Bill.
The Bill is then referred to the relevant Committee of the House that will conduct public hearing on its content.
Committee Stage:
The Bill is referred to a standing committee or a Committee of the Whole on Bills for a detailed examination. Public hearings would be held before the Bill is examined clause by clause. Amendments may also be proposed before the Bill is reported back to the Assembly. Third Reading: Members may debate the Bill one final time before voting on it and passing it.
Assent:
The Bill is presented to the Governor for Assent. The Governor has three things to do. One, to give assent; two, return the Bill with reasons, and three, withhold assent. Where the Governor withholds his assent, under Section 100(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Assembly can override the Governor’s assent and pass the Bill with two-thirds majority of members of the Assembly. T
This is where the 7th Assembly has failed, as it has consistently reneged on its constitutional duty and turned a blind eye to several Bills passed and presented to the Governor but ignored by the Governor. These are Bills that, if enacted, would have impacted positively on the polity and on the lives of the citizens of the State.
Financial/Oversight Role
Each year the State Governor proposes a budget to the Assembly. Estimates on the anticipated expenditures for each ministry and agency are tabled so that members may review in detail each ministry’s budget.
This process occurs primarily in the policy field and House committees are supposed to engage the various MDAs and make its officials respond to questions from committee members before the funds requested are appropriated. The Assembly has the right to deny the amounts requested or to reduce the budget as it sees fit. This aspect is not usually thoroughly done by the 7th Assembly.
Once the Assembly and its committees have concluded their consideration of the estimates, an appropriation Bill is introduced to grant the approved funding. The government has no authority to spend public money until this process is completed, unless the Assembly allows temporary financing by passing interim supplementary Bills.
The Assembly’s financial role also includes the oversight of expenditures. After funding is approved, the audit process begins. At the conclusion of the fiscal year, the government must table the incomes and expenditures before the Assembly.
The Assembly members’ review of the books is aided by the Auditor-General of the State who issues formal reports. All these publications are referred to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, which determines whether the expenditures were made with proper legislative authority and with value for the money spent.
Inquiry/Representation Role
In order to effectively examine government activities, the Assembly must have the opportunity to seek information. The ability of members to ask questions helps form public opinion on numerous issues of importance to the State.
Common ways members can obtain information are to hold regular constituency briefings/interactions; ask a question of the government and/or move a motion requesting that certain information is given to the Assembly by either a member of the State Executive Council or the Governor. The 7th Assembly is lacking in this aspect.
Question Period:
This is probably the best known of all the Assembly’s inquiry processes. Each day that the legislature is in session, members have the opportunity to direct questions to any exco member on any topic within their responsibility. This is also lacking as it has never been exercised by the 7th Assembly.
Written Questions:
Members can also direct written questions or at most, summon any exco member, the Governor inclusive, who has no option than to appear before the Assembly’s sitting within a given time frame to answer to questions. The 7th Assembly is lacking here and seems not to have the political will to exercise its powers in this direction.
Representation Role
We are operating a representative democracy. Simply put, all Akwa Ibomites cannot sit in the Legislative Chamber as lawmakers. Hence, there is election for the people to elect only 26 of the over 6million Akwa Ibom people as State Assembly members, representing the 26 State Constituencies of the State.
It therefore means that each Assemblyman is first responsible to his State Constituents before the State. For clarity, there is no Assembly man without a constituency but, unfortunately, what is obtained in Akwa Ibom particularly in the 7th Assembly, is that, there are Assembly members without Constituencies.
The members of the 7th Assembly carry on without regular constituency briefings and interactive sessions. They sit in Uyo and only return to their constituencies to attend burials, child dedications, traditional marriages, naming ceremonies and other related extra curricula activities.
Most of them, even have constituency offices that are only occupied by reptiles because these offices have no one to attend to their constituents and most of them are overgrown by weeds.
How then can they obtain information that will offer them the opportunity to give effective representation to their people?
Committee review:
Members often deal with complex issues that require a good deal of consideration at the Committee level. In many cases, the Legislative Assembly, as a whole, does not have time to properly deal with certain important matters that demand attention. Legislative committees, therefore, allow members to carry out detailed investigations before the Assembly can reach a decision.
Committees afford members the opportunity to pursue a detailed line of inquiry and allow exco members to bring their departmental officials into the room to help answer members’ questions. This laudable legislative practice is yet to take root in the 7th Assembly.
In conclusion
It is, thus, apparent that the question posed in the theme of this discourse can only be answered in the negative, when the foregoing presentation is considered. The redemption lies in the 7th Assembly checking itself in the mirror of this presentation and turning a new legislative leaf.
Being a Keynote Address Presented by the State Chairman of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Otuekong Franklyn Isong, at the Consolidated Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) End of Year Get-Together as a Guest Speaker on Wednesday, 22nd December, 2021, at the NUJ Press Centre, Information Drive, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
