From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

  

In less than two months, the curtain will fall on the ninth National Assembly. With new members warming up for their inauguration  and the contest for the leadership of the 10th assembly taking the centre stage, the question is how far has the outgoing lawmakers fared in the discharge of their legislative functions, especially in the area of lawmaking, which is their core function?

Although the 1999 Constitution (as amended) gives the National Assembly the power to oversight the Executive Arm of government, ironically, the constitution is  silent on who oversights  the legislature. Also, there is no consensus on what metrics should be used to measure the performance of the Parliamentarians.

However, recently, a  Civil Society Organisation, (CSO) Order Paper Advocacy Initiative, in a move akin to watching the watchdog, undertook an appraisal of the performance of the federal lawmakers, in the past three years, especially in the area of lawmaking.

The  Order Paper Advocacy Initiative, in the project,  appraised   the 469  members of the ninth National Assembly on bill sponsorship. According to the appraisal, which was done in conjunction with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project by Palladium, a total of 2,727 bills were initiated by the lawmakers in the first three years of this assembly.

The Executive Director, Order Paper Advocacy Initiative, Oke Epia, had noted that the National Assembly, unlike the two other arms of government has received less “informed scrutiny”. He noted that the exercise is based on empirical data and was a true reflection of the performance of the lawmakers in sponsorship of bills in the period under review.

According to him, “We have used data and data does not lie. For the past two years, our analysis has never been faulted. None has been validly challenged. The National Assembly constitutes the legislative arm of government in Nigeria.

Unfortunately, it is one of the three arms (the other two being Executive and Judiciary), that has received less scrutiny from citizens. Or,better put, it has received less-informed and organized scrutiny.”

A fortnight ago,  the CSO unveiled a list of 20 lawmakers as semi finalists in its Most Valuable Parliamentarian (MVP) Hall of Fame. The semi-final shortlist, according to the organisation, in a statement signed by  Epia,  was determined at the completion of the third-year appraisal, and the eventual inductees would emerge following further assessments in the last year of their  four-year tenure.

The semi-finalists, who are grouped into different categories- top performers in Value and Impact Bills, top performers Productivity index and top performers, newbies, were selected from the two chambers of the National Assembly and across party line,   based on  value,  impact  and progression of their bills.

“While value speaks to the correlation of a bill’s advancement of the governance objective of the Federal Government; impact relates to the empirical contribution of a bill to the enhancement of the lives and living conditions of citizens; and productivity applies to the stage of progression of a bill to measure the diligence, dedication and hard work put into its processing by its sponsor,” the group stated.

The shortlist consists of Senate Chief Whip, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbjabimiala,  Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity,  Benjamin Kalu, Waive Ejiroghene Francis, Dachung Bagos amongst others.

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Already, several lawmakers have  applauded the initiative, as well as the regular appraisal of members of the National Assembly, which the CSO says is aimed at strengthening the legislature and “identifying and sustaining a distinct class of legislators who are performance-driven, excellence-inspired, and public-spirited.”

The Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Honourable Mohammed Tahir Monguno agrees. Monguno, in his speech at the unveiling of the third year appraisal,  had  noted that the previous appraisals by the organization has engendered healthy competition amongst the lawmakers and helped to keep parliamentarians on their toes.

“Your work has made members to be on their toes and compete amongst themselves to sponsor bills and also to improve on the quality of bills that are being sponsored. You are complementing the role of the legislature. You are upping the ante of legislature,” the chief whip stated.

He added that “the barometer of rating the performance of the lawmaker is not by the number of burials or wedding ceremony he attends, but by the number of bills he has sponsored that have seen the light of the day.”

Similarly, the deputy minority leader, Toby  Okechukwu said the Order Paper was setting agenda for the lawmakers and motivating them to do more.

Okechukwu noted that “it is critical that you make an assessment on how impactful bills have been, not just the preponderance but also the numbers, and to the extent they add values, you got a lot of work to do, those that have been signed and those that have been impactful,”

Nevertheless, in the run-up to the inauguration of the 10th assembly, pundits say the performance of the lawmakers in the outgoing assembly should form part of the yardstick for deciding those who should preside over the Senate and the House in the next dispensation. 

Incidentally, among the 20 nominees for the MVP Hall of Fame are four of those contesting to lead the National Assembly in the next dispensation,  including  the former Abia State governor. Senator Kalu, who is a front runner for the position of President of the Senate in the 10th assembly was  credited with the  sponsorship of 25 bills at the end of the third session of the ninth assembly. He is also ranked number one among former governors in the Senate, in terms of bills sponsorship.

Apart from Kalu, other contenders for the leadership of the National Assembly, who made the MVP  shortlist are the House spokesman and Waive.  The duo are gunning for the position of speaker of the Green chamber.

Epia opines that the choice of the leadership of the 10th assembly should be guided by the performance of the various contenders in the outgoing assembly.

According to him, “ we have been able to offer performance appraisals of the National Assembly and provide a valid and objective basis for citizens to determine the suitability or otherwise of incumbent legislators seeking to become speaker, deputy speaker, president of the Senate and deputy president of the Senate as well as principal officers in both chambers.

“We believe that the contestations for the presiding and principal officers of the 10th National Assembly should be viewed from the broader and more objective perspective of performance, capacity and character.

“While zoning is a credible criteria given the context of Nigeria’s diversity and the necessary requirement for inclusion and power-balancing, it is in the overriding national interest to also prioritize track record. Citizens have a right to know and make valid judgements on the suitability or otherwise of those seeking to become leaders of the legislature, which is the most critical arm of government in a democracy.”