By Fred Itua, Abuja
The Senate, vis-a-vis, the National Assembly, had one of its worst outings in 2021. For many political pundits and observers, the Senate derailed in its primary responsibility of holding President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration accountable on behalf of the people. For them, the Senate, rather than carry out its constitutional mandate, turned itself into an unofficial spokesman of the Executive.
From low rating, budget padding, poor oversight to apathy and lack of willpower as well as the alleged overbearing posture of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly, committed too many blunders and political gaffes in 2021.
Apathy and nonchalance
Senators elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Young Progressives Party (YPP), in 2021 technically abandoned their activities on the floor of the Senate.
There are 109 senators elected every four years during general elections. According to the laws governing activities of the Senate, vis-a-vis the National Assembly, lawmakers are expected to sit at least 180 or 181 days in a year.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the Senate has failed to meet this constitutional requirement. Apart from shutting the National Assembly for months in 2020, it has also reduced the number of sittings per week.
It now holds plenary on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Plenary commences between 10.30 or 11am and ends before 2pm. Thursdays, which were hitherto sitting days, have been jettisoned.
Similarly, attendance during plenary, has plummeted since 2020. Many senators, who barely turn up, register and abandon the chamber halfway into the day’s legislative business.
Some senators, who spoke with Daily Sun, agreed that attendance dwindled in 2021. Senator Smart Adeyemi, who represents Kogi West, attributed the apathy to last year’s outbreak of COVID-19. He also listed other factors that could have been responsible.
In a chat with Daily Sun, Adeyemi, who is a former national president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), urged newsmen to look at the register of the Senate and tell Nigerians those who don’t attend plenary.
Though he conceded that he was not in a position to castigate his colleagues, he, however, stated that lawmakers elected by the people must attend plenary because that remains their first responsibility.
He said: “I always attend plenary. I contribute well on the floor of the Senate and no one can fault that. But, there are some lawmakers I can’t recall the last time I saw them in plenary. I don’t know why they don’t come. The media can help us find out.
“The primary responsibility of a senator is to attend plenary. It also depends on the senatorial district you represent. Some people consider certain factors. Some may be sick or may have travelled outside Nigeria. Those are possibilities. This apathy started last year during COVID-19. There may be other reasons which I can’t tell because I don’t know.”
Many senators conceded that attending plenary was becoming an exercise in futility, since 2019, when Lawan assumed office as President of the Senate. They said lawmakers are now micromanaged and not allowed to speak freely on important national issues unlike in the past. They also complained that whenever any issue pertaining to President Muhammadu Buhari is discussed, Lawan seldom allows it.
“We can’t discuss anything freely about Buhari because Lawan doesn’t permit it. If you go too deep, he will turn off your microphone and that ends it. I don’t see any reason I should sit there and be caged. Avoiding it is the best option for me,” a senator complained.
Others believe it is becoming unnecessary to attend plenary since every request from President Buhari is seldom subjected to any serious debate by Lawan. They lamented that loan requests, confirmations and budgets, must not be tampered with by the Senate because Lawan would never permit such. They noted that until the Senate becomes serious in performing its duties of checking the excesses of the Executive, attending plenary would be unnecessary.
They further decried the practice by the Senate, where lawmakers are not allowed to speak for more than three minutes on any given issue, no matter how important.
Poor oversight
The festering insecurity in the country took a toll on activities in the National Assembly. Senators, who until the recent upsurge in bandits’ attacks visited various states of the federation to carry out oversight functions, faltered in 2021.
Many chairmen and members of the standing committees in the two chambers, abandoned oversight visits to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) domiciled outside the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The function of the National Assembly sits on a tripod – lawmaking, representation and oversight. Since the upsurge in bandits’ activities, only one aspect of their function has been effectively carried out.
Aside from lawmaking, many senators didn’t visit their constituencies for fear of being kidnapped or killed. Every year, over N10 billion is reportedly budgeted by the National Assembly for committee exercises and oversight functions. However, there have been controversies over alleged non-release of funds to the various committees to carry out their oversight functions.
The key committees which get direct funding from the Senate and the House of Representatives include Public Account, Rules and Business, Anti-corruption and Financial Crimes, Public Petitions, Media and Publicity, and Services.
In 2021, many senators repeatedly declined any invitation to embark on oversight visits to various states. They cited bad roads, insecurity and lack of funds as major excuses. In mid 2021, an Edo senator, Clifford Ordia, was attacked by bandits. This further heightened their fears that anyone could be a victim.
Due to poor oversight, various MDAs had a free-for-all spending festival. For instance, some of the agencies, which hitherto, funded some of the oversight visits, were unwilling to release funds for the purchase of air tickets, hotel accommodation and other financial commitments involved for lawmakers.
Buhari’s loan requests approval
In 2021, the Senate approved trillions of Naira for President Buhari as loans to fund the budget.
The many loan requests unsettled many lawmakers, who were worried that the country might run into troubled waters if the National Assembly didn’t halt the fresh plan. Unfortunately, the Senate, headed by Lawan, approved every loan request sought by Buhari.
Many lawmakers, who cried out but were ignored by Lawan complained of the lack of transparency on the part of the Executive on how the billions of dollars were spent.
Former Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, in one of the chats with Daily Sun, said the increasing requests for loans by the Executive arm of government and expeditious approval by the National Assembly were worrisome.
Ndume said though borrowing is not a crime, the thoroughness required for its approval is often not followed by the Senate, and by extension, the National Assembly. He said this had made Nigerians to be suspicious of the federal lawmakers, and invariably, tagged them as rubber stamps. According to him, some of such requests hurriedly approved in the past were even yet to be granted.
He explained further that as much as loans or borrowings are required by the government to address the problem of infrastructural deficits facing the country, such loans should be cautiously considered in the face of debt servicing getting to 80 or 90 percent.
He said: “Borrowing is not a crime but when the rate of debt services increases, as I understand that it is about 80 to 90 percent already, you have to be cautious and look for alternatives.
“There are some loans that are not just absolutely necessary. There are some that can be delayed. There are some that can be negotiated or renegotiated in terms of conditions attached to them. I think this is what the media should analyse and see whether it is necessary.”
A lawmaker complained that the National Assembly has been subjected to constant ridicules because they want to be in the good books of President Buhari.
He told Daily Sun that despite the humongous loans already approved for President Buhari since 2019, the relevant National Assembly standing committees were yet to carry out appropriate oversight on the projects reportedly executed with the loans.
He said heads of various MDAs seldom take them seriously when they demand for documents or make enquiries about how the loans are utilised.
He said: “There are over 60 committees which should ordinarily carry out oversight functions and ensure that these monies are well spent. Unknown to Nigerians, these committees are not well funded. We don’t go on regular oversight.
“Sometimes, when we decide to go, we rely on funding from the agencies we are supposed to oversee to buy us flight tickets and pay our hotel bills. How do you carry out a proper oversight function like that?
“The leadership of the National Assembly knows what I’m saying and they know that I’m not wrong. Every year, billions are budgeted for these oversight visits and committee functions. As a senator, I don’t know how these funds are spent.
“So, this is our situation. We just approve loans freely and we can’t ask the right questions about how MDAs spend the funds. When you even attempt to ask, they label you as an enemy of the President. It is a bad situation.”
Since 2019, over $40 billion has been approved as loans by the Lawan-led National Assembly. Ironically, senators were seldom privy to details of trillions of Naira approved.
Budget padding
Budget padding is a recurring issue in the National Assembly. Presiding officers of the two chambers, principal officers and chairman of the appropriation committee, are often accused of concealing billions in budgets of MDAs.
During the consideration of the 2022 budget, padding again took a centre stage. Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Barau Jibrin, was in the eye of the storm.
For instance, the 2020 Appropriation Act, according to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), was full of padded expenditures.
In the reported Constituency and Executive Tracking Exercise Phase 3 Report of the ICPC, the verdict was damaging.
Senator Jibrin, who is at the centre of the controversy, allegedly had contracts traced to Sinity Nigeria Limited, Jibril Electrical Engineering and Talgo Luxury Estate Investment Nigeria Limited. The aforementioned companies are reportedly owned by Jibrin, and his family members.
Projects running into millions were found to have been paid for in Kano North Senatorial District where Jibrin represents, without any evidence of the projects being delivered or executed.
Electoral Amendment Bill
The low point for the Senate in 2021 was its lack of will power to override the veto of President Buhari on the Electoral Amendment Bill, despite its repeated ‘empty’ threats.
Last week, about 81 signatures were collated. Members of the ruling APC spearheaded the push to have the President’s decision upturned.
The bone of contention in the proposed amendment is the expulsion of indirect primaries from the existing Act by members of the two chambers of the National Assembly.
The process of overriding the President is tedious. Since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999, the National Assembly has only overruled the President’s veto once, and that was when it passed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act, following President Olusegun Obasanjo’s veto.
For each chamber to override the President, it needs two-third of members. For the Senate, it needs 73 to 74 out of 109 members seated and voting.
For the House of Representatives, a similar requirement is needed. It needs at least 240 members present out of 360 constitutionally recognised by law.
As soon as the process is kicked off, the rejected Bill will be recommitted on the floor of the two chambers. After its first and second reading, it may likely go for a public hearing.
During the third hearing on the floor, if 74 senators and 240 members of the House of Representatives vote, it will become a law without the approval of the President.
With its inability to override the President, many Nigerians believe that the National Assembly has finally confirmed their fear that it is a rubber stamp and an appendage of the Executive.