• The key bills, controversies in 2 legislative chambers
From Fred Itua and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
When on June 11, 2019 the 9th National Assembly was inaugurated, Nigerians had looked forward to robust legislations emanating from the Senate and House of Representatives led by Ahmad Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila respectively.
As the two legislative chambers wind up next month to pave way for the coming of the 10th National Assembly, this report looks at landmark moments in the two chambers, the controversies, things they did well and where they failed to deliver.
Senate
On June 11, 2019, the 9th Senate was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari via a letter authorising the Clerk to the National Assembly to carry out the function on his behalf.
After a life-long dream, Ahmad Lawan emerged as president of the Senate and Ovie Omo-Agege as deputy president of the Senate. The emergence of Lawan and Omo-Agege was a sharp departure from the ‘holistic’ pestering of Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu as president and deputy president of the 8th Senate respectively.
Upon his emergence, Lawan promised to ensure a harmonious relationship between the Executive and the Legislative Arms of Government. Though Lawan’s new deal caused some schism, lawmakers from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition parties rallied round him.
Few months down the line, the 9th Senate earned itself a ‘Rubber Stamp’ Assembly. The new name was borne out of Lawan’s refusal to interrogate any request from President Buhari-led administration. Bills, requests and confirmations rejected by the Saraki-led Senate as a result of verifiable reasons, were glamorously approved by Lawan despite strong opposition from the lawmakers, including members of the ruling APC.
On the flipside, the outgoing 9th Senate is touted to have scored some goals in some areas. Again, there are arguments that the signature bills touted by Lawan’s 9th Senate, were passed by Saraki-led Senate, but President Buhari rejected the bills. The bills include the Electoral Amendment, Petroleum Industry, Constitution Amendment and Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act.
On October 15, 2019, the Lawan-led Senate passed the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill 2019. The Bill was an initiative of the Nigerian Senate. The passage of that Bill raised over $500 million used by the Executive in funding the 2020 budget. Today, over $1 billion is realised from that initiative thereby making the Senate to break a 15-year jinx.
Also, almost after 20 years, the Lawan-led National Assembly in 2021 passed the infamous Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). With the passage, the National Assembly established the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission. It also established the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
In 2019, after many failed attempts, the 9th Senate passed the Finance Bill. The Bill, which is now an Act and has gone through further amendments, reformed the tax regime by amending several Acts, namely Petroleum Proflt Tax Act (PPT), Custom and Excise Tax Act, Company Income Tax Act (CITA), Personal Income Tax Act, Value Added Tax Act, Stamp.
The icing on the cake for Lawan’s Presidency is the recent passage of the Electoral Amendment Bill. Against all daunting odds, it ensured that different interests were accommodated and key concerns raised by Nigerians were also addressed
Listing the achievements of the 9th Senate in Abuja during the week, Lawan said: “As of July 2022, a total of 874 Bills were introduced in the Senate, out of which 162 were passed.”
Addressing members-elect of the 10th Assembly who gathered in Abuja on Monday for an induction programme ahead of their inauguration in June, Lawan said:
“Remarkably, 104 Bills of the 9th Senate have been assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, making this significantly higher than those of previous Assemblies, which recorded 31 for the Fourth Assembly, 98 for the Fifth Assembly, 52 for the Sixth Assembly, 60 for the Seventh Assembly and 74 for the Seventh Assembly.
“And that tells you when the two arms of government come together, working together, partnering and synergiszing to ensure that services are provided for the citizens, government delivers services better, more efficiently and more effectively.”
The Senate President also stated that at the onset in 2019, the 9th Senate was mindful of the damaging effect of persistent conflict with the Executive and the resultant impact on legislative activities.
He said they were equally aware that a good working relationship is desirable and indeed imperative to achieve effective and efficient service delivery to the people.
“Hence under my leadership, the Ninth National Assembly adopted a friendly, but professional approach to Executive-Legislstive relations focused on harmonious working relationship based on mutual respect, consultation, cooperation, collaboration and partnership,” Lawan said.
On the rubber stamp dent, he said: “I am delighted to inform members-elect that the Ninth Assembly is working with the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies to prepare a comprehensive legacy reports for the Ninth Senate. What we are doing is to capture all that we did in the Ninth Senate, all the Bills passed, sector by sector, all the confirmations done and we have done so many confirmations and we have confirmed over 2,000 people who are now working in this government, different agencies.
“If some feel its rubber stamp, let him go through (the Legacy Report). But I always believe that those who call the Ninth National Assembly rubber stamp are mischievous. Most of them misled.
“And when the National Assembly will change the budget, the same persons who call us rubber stamp will say there is padding. They have padded the budget. They have changed the budget.
“So, we believe that we must give our own account. And that will be available to the public. That this is our Legacy Report. All of us, members of the Assembly will have their copies. It will be online. We also intend to send to the state Houses of Assembly, to their libraries because we feel that we must tell our story. We will not allow anybody else to tell stories about us from his jaundice point of view.”
Lawan’s Senate has also been accused of budget padding, fraudulent constituency projects and a less achiever than the 8th Senate led by Dr Saraki.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in 2022, declared that the N13.59 trillion 2021 budget was padded by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies ( MDAs) with duplicated projects to the tune of N300 billion in connivance with members of the National Assembly.
The anti-graft agency also disclosed that project duplication worth about N100 billion was also inserted into the 2022 budget by some MDAs aside from N49.9 billion tracked as salaries for ghost workers between January and June this year.
The ICPC Chairman, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, said the N300 billion duplicated projects in the 2021 budget and N100 billion in the 2022 budget were tracked through thorough scrutinisation carried out on approved projects for the various MDAs.
”N300 billion would have been wasted by the Federal Government on duplicated projects inserted into the 2021 budget and N100 billion for the same purpose in the current fiscal year if not tracked and intercepted by ICPC.
“The same pre-emptive move saved the country from spending N49.9billion for salaries of ghost workers put on fictitious payroll by the fraudulent MDAs between January and June this year.
“Names of MDAs involved in projects duplications running into intercepted billions of naira and fictitious payrolls are available and will be forwarded to the committee.
“The good thing about the pre-emptive moves made by us is that monies for the fraudulent acts were prevented from being released to the affected MDAs and it is gratifying that the Finance Ministry and Accountant General Office cooperated with us,” he said.
In comparison with the 8th Senate, Lawan’s Assembly has been adjudged by stakeholders as a far cry from the expectations of Nigerians, despite its subservient relationship with the Executive Arm.
Stakeholders believe that Lawan was elected to do the bidding of Buhari even when Nigerians were opposed to some of the Senate decisions.
More than any Assembly before it, the 9th Senate has approved more loans for President Buhari. In total, over $40 billion was approved by Lawan-led Senate within a space of four years. In contrast, Saraki-led Senate between 2015-2019, turned down many loan requests by Buhari on grounds that the administration failed to justify the planned expenditure.
Saraki was hailed by Nigerians and his colleagues for standing up to Buhari. Whereas Lawan approved almost every loan request, including the controversial N22 trillion Ways and Means.
The Ways and Means provision allows the government to borrow from the apex bank if it needs short-term or emergency finance to fund delayed government expected cash receipts of fiscal deficits.
Last year, the Senate rejected Buhari’s request to approve the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means advance on the ground that it lacked details. After unnecessary grandstanding, it was approved last week.
In all, the 9th Senate is a mix of the good, bad and ugly.
House of Representatives
The 9th House of Representatives, like the Senate, kicked off on June 11, 2019, with the election of Femi Gbajabiamila from Lagos State as speaker and Idris Wase from Plateau as deputy speaker. Gbajabiamila, who had narrowly lost the speakership seat to Yakubu Dogara in 2015, had polled the majority of votes to defeat Umar Bago, who is now the governor-elect of Niger State, in the fierce battle for the leadership of the 9th House.
Similarly, the House has Alhassan Ado-Doguwa and Ndudi Elumelu as majority and minority leaders respectively.
Expectedly, in less than one month from now, the life span of the 9th House of Representatives will elapse. The election of Gbajabiamila and the subsequent emergence of caucus leaders was to set the turn of what to expect from the outgoing assembly.
Bills by 9th House
In the last four years, the House considered no fewer than 1,000 bills, including private member bills, bills from the Senate requiring concurrence, as well as as bills from the executive arm of government. Nevertheless, some of the bills stood out because of their relevance to the polity, as well as the interest they generated in the country.
However, while some of the bills were eventually passed into law and assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, others were withdrawn, because of keen opposition to them in the chamber, as well as public outcry against them, while some others were stalemated.
The major bills included the Electoral Act, Petroleum Industry Act ( PIA), Constitution Alteration bills, the Water Resources bill, NGO regulatory bill, Infectious Diseases Control bill, the bill to curb medical tourism by public officials, as well as the Religious Discrimination (Prohibition and Prevention)Bill 2020, popularly called the “hijab bill”.
Pundits say the PIA, the Electoral Act and the Constitution alteration bills could pass as the most critical bills passed by the House in the last four years, owing to their significance to the polity. For instance, the PIA, which unbundled the defunct Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and introduced some reforms in the oil and gas sector of the economy has been reoccurring in the parliament for more than 15 years, with the previous assembly unable to push it through.
Also, the passage of the Electoral Act amendment bill, which introduced some innovations to the conduct of elections in the country, is also considered a major feat by the House.
Other critical bills passed include the Constitution Alteration bills, including Devolution bills, which moved railway and prison from the Exclusive Legislative list to the Concurrent Legislative list.
Nevertheless, some of the bills were dogged by controversies and as such did not see the light of the day. Bills in this category included the controversial Water Resources bill. The proposed legislation had scaled through in the House in the 8th Assembly, but was jettisoned in the Senate. However, it suddenly resurfaced in the Green Chamber in 2021, with chairman, House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli, pushing for its passage.
The bill was stepped down following stiff opposition by lawmakers. Surprisingly, last year, the Water Resources bill reappeared in the Order Paper, with Soli explaining that all the contentious clauses have been expunged.
But, again, members kicked against it and it was withdrawn. Like the Water Resources bill, the NGO bill which sought to regulate the activities of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) in the country is still in abeyance, owing to public outcry.
However, the bill which sought to curb medical tourism by public officials was outrightly rejected by members, who argued that it infringed on the rights of public office holders.
Similarly, the Religious Discrimination (Prohibition and Prevention)Bill 2020, which was sponsored by Saidu Abdullahi was another bill that generated passion. The bill had sought to allow citizens to wear religious emblems like the hijab in educational institutions, place of work and other public places, among others.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) kicked vehemently against it. Former CAN President, Rev Samson Ayokunle, during an advocacy meeting to his office by Abdullahi, had faulted the proposed legislation, saying that it was a recipe for crisis.
Ayokunle had noted that ‘the bill if passed will enforce discrimination.
“The bill is causing wahala. You don’t sit on my nose because you have a right to sit down. Beyond your good intent to solve a problem, we may be creating many other ones. There is no mutual respect,” he said.
Controversies
The House witnessed its first row in July 2019, barely few weeks after its inauguration . The bone of contention was the leadership of the minority caucus in the 9th assembly. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has the largest number of opposition members had written to the Speaker proposing Kingsley Chinda, Chukwuka Onyema, Yakubu Barde, Ajibola Muriana as minority leader, deputy minority leader, minority whip and deputy minority whip respectively.
However, Gbajabiamila on that fateful day informed the House that he has a letter by the minority parties in the House nominating Ndudi Elumelu, Toby Okechukwu, Gideon Gwani and Majid Adesegun as minority leader, deputy leader, minority whip and deputy minority whip respectively. As the Speaker was reading the list, Chinda raised a point of order, insisting that the letter from the PDP nominating him as minority leader should be read.
In minutes the situation degenerated into a free for all with Gbajabiamila’s men and Chinda’s supporters exchanging blows on the floor of the House. Eventually, the Speaker, surrounded by his loyalists, read the list naming Elumelu as leader of the opposition.
Chinda later at a press conference described the action of the Speaker as “ambush by the APC-led house to arm-twist the opposition and illegally install certain people as minority leaders against the choice of the minority caucus.”
The book, Mr Speaker: The legislative life, service and resilience of Femi Gbajabiamila, written by Dr Charles Omole and Musa Abdullahi Krishi, and published last year, captured the politics of the minority leadership thus: “In the case of the opposition PDP, Kingsley Chinda ( Rivers), Chukwuka Onyema (Anambra), Ossai Nicholas Ossai ( Delta) and Ndudi Elumelu ( Delta) were in contention for the position of Minority Leader.
“But the key members of the Gbajabiamila team had a plan. They wanted to ‘balkanize’ the PDP in House so that Gbajabiamila would not have problems in his four years tenure. They met in Lagos and hatched a plan, which was to approach one of the PDP members to work with as minority leader.”
The acrimony caused by tussle for the minority leadership affected the cohesion of the minority caucus adversely for the greater part of the 9th Assembly. The PDP in exasperation over the turn of events in the minority leadership had slammed a suspension on Elumelu and designated Chinda, the leader of its caucus in the Green Chamber.
There were yet another row in the House on July 15, 2021, as majority caucus and minority caucus clashed on the floor over whether or not electronic transmission of results should be included in the Electoral Act 2022.
While the opposition lawmakers pushed for electronic transmission of results, their counterpart in the majority party thought otherwise.
Trouble started after Okechukwu proposed an amendment to 52(2) of the proposed electoral law to the effect that transmission of election results should be by electronic. Nevertheless, Wase before subjecting the motion to vote had stated that only 20 per cent of his constituency has broadband coverage
He said: “Today, in Nigeria I don’t know the coverage of the broadband. Have we been able to cover all parts of the federation that we now want to put it. I don’t know. But I make bold to say, you can go and verify. In my Constituency, we don’t have more than 20 per cent coverage.”
Regardless, when the proposal was subjected to a voice vote, the majority voted in support. However, the deputy speaker gave it to the “nays”. After the controversial ruling, the House erupted in crisis. And in no time, members were engaged in fisticuffs. Eventually, the minority lawmakers staged a walk out.
Earlier, on the same day, lawmakers from oil-producing states had staged a protest on the floor of the House over equity fund for oil-producing communities.
The Green Chamber had in the PIB adopted five per cent as equity fund for oil host communities, against three per cent in the Senate version of the bill.
Nevertheless, a conference committee set to harmonize the differences in the two versions of the bill passed by the upper and lower legislative chambers adopted three per cent equity fund for host communities.
However, in a twist, shortly after the House adopted the conference report on the PIB on July 15, members of the minority caucus staged a walk-out over a dispute on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Summon and impeachment threat against President Buhari
The most debated issue in the House in the last four years was the security challenges bedeviling the country, with the parliament, taking several resolutions. Severally, the Green Chamber called for the rejig of the country’s security architecture, specifically calling for the sack of the service chiefs.
The climax was on December 1, 2020, when the House passed a resolution to summon President Buhari over the security challenges in the country, especially in the Northeast geo-political zone.
Gbajabiamila, after a visit to Aso Rock, to convey the resolution of the House to the President, announced gleefully that President Buhari has accepted to honour the invitation of the parliament.
However, on December 10, 2020, when President Buhari was scheduled to address a joint session of the National Assembly, there was no sign of the President anywhere around the National Assembly complex.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, had the day before said that the House lacked the constitutional power to summon the President to brief it on security related matters.
Thoroughly embarrassed by the turn of events, the House leadership completely avoided any discourse that has to do with the botched appearance of President Buhari before the parliament.
Also, on July 28, last year, the minority caucus, in the House, alongside the Senate minority caucus, gave President Buhari a six-week ultimatum to address the security challenges in the country or risk impeachment.
“We are asking Mr President to address the insecurity in this country within six to eight weeks unless we will find the constitutional means to ensure that we will serve him impeachment notice,” Elumelu stated at a joint press briefing with Senate minority leader, Senator Philip Aduda. Nevertheless, not a few had described the impeachment threat by the opposition as mere playing to the galley.
Probes
The House is also known to have embarked on several probes in the last four years. However, the probe into the alleged financial malfeasance by the former Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC; probe of Chinese loans obtained by the Federal Government stood out because of the interest and controversies generated by the investigations.
Apart from that, the House also embarked on probe of the state of the country’s oil refineries, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) daily Consumption, subsidy payment on petroleum products, attack on Kuje Correctional Centres, among others.