Simon Kolawole wrote:In any given democracy, the legislature performs three functions: lawmaking, appropriation and oversight of the executive. I bear the Nigerian legislature witness that they actually make laws, especially the ones that would not upset the applecart. They do a lot of appropriation—and carefully jack up the budget to accommodate their own interests. Oversight function? Of course, they do perform it excellently, as long as the agency or ministry or parastatal they are overseeing would “support” public hearings and give committee members tickets and bundles of dollars to fly to some unknown republic to attend “capacity-building” conferences. And so it goes. The legislature, I want to declare today, has contributed immensely to the underdevelopment of Nigeria. We often look at the clueless executive branch of government as the source of our woes. I suppose we are correct to a large extent. After all, the executive is responsible for policies and the implementation of law and order in the society. The executive runs the machinery of government day to day. But there is the principle of separation of powers and checks and balances. The judiciary serves as a check. While it has not been perfect in any way, the judiciary has certainly helped stabilise this democracy with timely interventions that have checkmated anarchy and diluted dictatorship. But to effectively put the executive in check, however, we need a very active and proactive legislature. We need a legislature that puts the executive on its toes through oversight functions.I am sorry to be so cynical, but since when did the lawmakers love Nigeria so much that they want to do something for our progress? Since 1999, they have been investigating and probing all kinds of things and we never got any result. There was so much noise over the probe of power projects in 2008—excuse me, what was the outcome again? I seem to have forgotten. Recently, there has been a lot of noise and public posturing over the probe of petroleum subsidy management. Discerning Nigerians know very well that nothing would ever come out of it, if our past experiences could serve as a guide. I can list a thousand probes and a thousand no- outcomes. So, pardon my scepticism.It starts with appropriation. A ministry would say it wants to spend N100 billion in 2013; the committee would call the minister aside and promise to help him jack up the budget in exchange for a few billions. A deal is struck. Professor Fabian Osuji would forever regret agreeing to serve this country. In 2004, some members of the National Assembly allegedly told him to bring N50 million so that his ministry’s budget could be passed. The deal went bad and the man was publicly humiliated. Also, I was told that when the House committee started probing power projects, a member called one of the contractors and asked that if they would raise some amount of money to be distributed to committee members, the panel would turn out a favourable report. These evils are perpetrated not only at the federal level but also in the states. It is an open secret that in many states, members of the House of Assembly are put on special monthly allowances by the governors. Some monies are not to be accounted for at all. We would not have the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) running after governors today if the state lawmakers were alive to their oversight responsibilities. The laws of the land empower only the House of Assembly to probe a governor and remove him or her from office if found guilty. But this is just on paper. They’ve gladly surrendered their independence to the executive. In more ways than one, the legislature is contributing its own quota to the underdevelopment of Nigeria. How can the lawmakers be accepting flight tickets and bales of dollars from the same people they are expected to put in check? How can they be colluding to jack up the budget in exchange for contracts and kick-backs? How can they be sending a list of “requirements” to the same body they want to probe? What are we turning this country into? Is there a way out of this conspiracy to keep Nigeria perpetually down through abject greed, crass incompetence and crude selfishness?
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:33:04 +0000
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