I just finished watching a recorded airing of the mid-term
report of the House of Representatives of the Nigerian National Assembly on
African Independent Television. The broadcast showed the address of the speaker
of the house and other invited speakers. This broadcast is the review of the
last two years of the 7th assembly.
As I watch the broadcast, my mind went to what I watched and
listened to on 29th May, 2013 from the Aso Rock during the mid-term report of
the transformation agenda. The executives had their own session of assessing
their activities over the last two years in power.
The information from the session of the House of
Representatives was profound but the purpose of the piece is not to discuss the
content. I shall take time to look at that at a later date. The purpose of this
post is to compare this session with that of the executives.
While both of them were a report card presentation, one was
a praise singing the other is a case of third party review. The ministers
listed their achievements and how the economy is growing, markers quoted which
is hardly visible to the average Nigerian and do not translate to food on the
table. The House of Representatives listed how much of their functions they
have performed which are easily measurable. Some may want to observe that we
have not felt the impact of these laws passed; I wish to state that it is the
function of the executive to implement those laws.
The intriguing part of the session is the third party
assessment of the activities of the legislature. The speakers were independent
and expressed sincere and objective assessment of the House of Representatives
over the two years. These are notable and respected Nigerians which include
Prof. Isawa Elaigwu, Femi Falana, Dr Abubakar Mohammed, NLC President and many
more.
All the speakers admitted that the House had a modest
performance. I was also pleased that they did not mince words in pointing out
areas of deficiency. In addition they also gave suggestions and recommendations
to a better outcome for the rest of the legislative tenure. This action of
inviting Nigerians to assess and gave their views on the legislative actives of
the House is highly commendable unlike the action of self assessment that the
executive did. The House may have learnt from what the executive did and
therefore did theirs differently but it is really exemplary.
From the comments of the speakers, I agree with them that
most Nigerians are ignorant of the real function of the legislature. There are
misconceptions about the National Assembly in general and I think this should
be addressed promptly. Misconceptions arise when people are not properly
informed and/or are ill informed.
There is more to do in terms of enlightening
Nigerians on the proper functioning of government. This function should not be
left to organs of government alone. Everyone should be involved in this: civil
society, non-governmental organisations, the mass media, writers, bloggers, and
enlightened individuals. Together we can create an enlightened society and a
better government.
God help Nigeria!
#2015OnMyMind
#PoliticalGabriel
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