NationalMirror As the National Assembly reconvenes by Our Reporter on Oct 2, 2013 | Posted under: Editorial As members of the two houses of the National Assembly (NASS) – the Senate and the House of Representatives – resumed work on September 17, after a six-week annual recess, public expectation was that the lawmakers would get down to serious business. It is obvious that while they were on recess, a number of issues requiring legislative attention suffered, in addition to outstanding matters yet unaddressed. Vacation allows for a settled mind and fresh thinking. For NASS members therefore, it hopefully enabled them to have a reinvigorated disposition to their core jobs. They have ostensibly gone home to rub minds with their constituents and should be in a better position to understand their demands and viewpoints on major issues affecting them. In other words, the lawmakers are better placed to appreciate the moods, aspirations and interests of the people they claim to be serving. At the national level, however, one of the raging problems that the NASS needs to wade into is the protracted strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The strike which started on July 1 was only four weeks old before the federal lawmakers went on recess. They have resumed, but the strike is still festering. In a media chat on the eve of the country’s 53rd independence anniversary, President Goodluck Jonathan voiced his suspicion that the three-month-old strike had gone political. There is, in addition the nagging problem of ceaseless increases in electricity tariffs dubiously masked as Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO II) by electricity regulators, in the face of poor service delivery. Another assignment that would task the NASS is the 2014 budget. It is again three months to the new year. The nation cannot afford to continue wallowing in the delay of annual budgets, sometimes six months into a new fiscal year. Matters of budget ought to be given expedited attention and encumbrances that would lead to delay nipped in the bud. Reports indicate that the lawmakers are set for the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) from the executive arm of government. Since the document contains information on crude oil production quota, oil benchmark and revenue, it is expected that the 2014 fiscal projections would be based on facts from the MTEF and not on arbitrary adjustments of benchmarks that often leads to misunderstanding between the executive and the legislature. Other outstanding responsibilities for the lawmakers include the conclusion of the Constitution review process which was on its last phase of the amendment before the NASS went on recess. Based on the original plan by the federal legislature, this selfimposed assignment ought to have been completed. Nigerians equally hope that the exercise would reshape the immediate political future of the country in areas like electioneering, revenue allocation, etc. No less important is the harmonization of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which has been with the legislature for months now. One of the aims of the bill is the unbundling of the nation’s oil behemoth, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by the creation of a new, independent National Oil Company (NOC); establishment of an inspectorate unit; as well as independent regulatory agencies to align the fiscal regime of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector with international best practices. It is anticipated that the NOC will have shareholding, ceded acreages and also take over current oil and gas sector infrastructure. These will include refineries, depots and certain downstream entities as well as production sharing contracts. The bill also has provision for the creation of the National Frontier Exploration Services (NFES), which would be the technical arm of the petroleum minister’s secretariat in order to enhance inland sedimentary data acquisition in the next two years, et cetera. For too long, the legislators have been concerned more with matters affecting their welfare and political interests. In a couple of months time, politicking for 2015 polls would become hysterical, and governance and the governed given the rear seat until after the elections. It is therefore, payback time, indeed ‘injury time’ for all elected political office holders to perform.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 07:58:08 +0000