As a parliamentary enthusiast, I was curious to know about the workings of the National Assembly and this led to my decision to indulge myself by constantly taking a cursory look at the happenings in the hallowed chambers, with particular emphasis on the Senate. No doubt, my interest in the present set of Senators must have been largely influenced by the leadership style at the Senate led by Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki (CON).
Despite the circumstances that led to his emergence as the number three citizen of the Federal Republic, he has indeed demonstrated that occupying such an exalted position in a complex political configuration at that material time was no child’s play. And as the dust of his emergence began to settle, he took a firm charge of the Senate to the amazement of many political gladiators and political neophytes like me.
How he has succeeded in piloting the affairs of the Nigerian Senate in such a steady manner is another kettle of fish entirely. What is however evident is his abilities at raising the legislative bar in the passage of over 130 bills within the past two years under his leadership.
You don’t need a clairvoyant or soothsayer to tell you that the present members of the upper legislative chamber of the most populous black nation in the world are on track for greater achievements in the next two years if the legislative successes recorded in bill passage in the last two years are anything to go by.
A fundamental role of the legislative arm of government is to make laws. For a country like ours begging for urgent and holistic development in every sphere of national life, quality laws that will have a direct impact on all Nigerians is the talking point on the streets of Lagos, Zamfara, Abia, Bayelsa, Kwara, Kano and indeed people from all the nooks and crannies of the country are yearning for qualitative legislations that will help to further dislodge the web of poverty in our society.
Over the years from the 4th to the present 8th National Assembly, the perception of many Nigerians about the modus operandi of both the Senate and the House of Representatives has been abysmally low. This, I was able to discover in my interactions with both the enlightened elite and the averagely educated individuals. Sadly, the younger generation to which I gladly belong have not fared any better in getting to study very closely the workings of the National Assembly.
Due to the developmental challenges the country has witnessed in times past, legislators have become the whipping boys in our demand for social amenities. This has therefore brought about the missing link between law making and the provision of infrastructural development. While the former can be a catalyst for the latter, the two are however mutually exclusive.
In a bid to “impress” the electorate, the legislators have become a pseudo- executive whose primary responsibility is to provide basic necessities to the people in the country that is in dire and urgent need for development. Constituency projects that should at best be seen as a philanthropic gesture is now sadly used by most Nigerians as the yardstick in evaluating legislative performance.
There must be a paradigm shift and the pertinent question is where do we go from here? One recommendation that I will gladly make is that the Senate and indeed members of the Nigerian parliament should engage more in providing timely, adequate and accurate information to Nigerians on legislative matters bordering on all facets of our collective existence.
Since the level of knowledge is subject to the available information, it is therefore important that Nigerians are not starved of the tiny but important legislative details about the happenings in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly. Although, the country’s practitioners in the media are doing a yeoman’s job in the discharge of their professional duties, however, information dissemination should not be left to the journalists alone. The National Assembly should continue to be proactive in disseminating information to the public rather than being reactive to issues.
Femi Olatoye writes from Abuja.