The Eighth National Assembly, which was inaugurated on June 9, 2015, will wind up on June 9, 2019 after fulfilling its statutory four-year tenure.
President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to issue a proclamation letter for the inauguration of the 9th National Assembly on June 9, 2019.
The National Assembly, which is the bicameral legislative arm of the Federal Government is empowered to make laws by the provisions of Chapter I, Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution. The Senate consists of 109 elected senators and the House of Representatives has 360 elected members.
The emergence of the leadership of the 8th National Assembly, independent of the usual presidential and ruling party’s influence, made the kick – off of legislative assignment by the assembly a highly controversial one.
However, one good development in the outgoing National Assembly, which has been regarded as the best since 1999 by many political analysts and watchers of political events in the country, is the sense of unity among the national legislators and the strong leadership provided by the former Kwara State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
The love that radiates the 8th National Assembly came to the fore when in 2018 both Saraki and the House of Representatives’ Speaker, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, dumped the All Progressives Congress for the Peoples Democratic Party.
Though APC leadership threatened to remove Saraki as the Senate President, and by extension, the leader of the 8th National Assembly, members of the APC in the National Assembly refused to bow to the pressure of their party leadership in removing Saraki.
Thus, Saraki from the opposition party and from a minority party in the National Assembly, through ingenuity, has been able to carry on, not only the activities of the National Assembly, but has been able to foster , which, analysts say, has never been witnessed in the previous assemblies.
One person that has not been surprised with the success of the 8th National Assembly under Saraki’s leadership is John Oyeyipo, a Public Affairs Commentator in Abuja.
Speaking with The Point, Oyeyipo said he was not surprised that Saraki had been able to steer the ship of the Assembly successfully in the last four years.
“Saraki has a long history of patriotism and service to the people.His reign as Governor of Kwara State brought unmatched feats and gain to the people. You can see that in the last four years, he has been able to provide leadership that focused on national interest rather than the interest of his party,” Oyeyipo said.
President Muhammadu Buhari recently said he didn’t have a good working relationship with the 8th National Assembly, and that he looks forward to a mutual and effective working relationship with the 9th National Assembly.
But a member of the Campaign for Democracy, Comrade Sola Olawale, faulted the President, saying that what President Muhammadu Buhari hadtermed ” bad working relations” with the 8tb Assembly was the fact that the Saraki-led National Assembly had refused to be a rubber stamp of the Executive.
Olawale said, “But I think that is the best for the country. Having an independent Legislature as provided by the Saraki- led 8th National Assembly is the best for our country. Our President may describe that as non- working relationship but that is how democracy should be .
“I praise the courage of the National Assembly leadership. I praise the courage of Saraki and Dogara in the last four years and I know that they have registered their names in the good books of Nigerians.”
Observers have also noted that the outgoing National Assembly has been able to initiate and pass milestone bills within the legislative years.
They note that out of 1, 516 bills so far treated at the House of Representatives between June 2015 and January 2019, members of the House of Representatives sponsored not less than 1, 380 bills.
One of the outstanding bills passed by the 8th National Assembly is a Bill for an Act to Alter the Provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and for Other Matters Connected Therewith otherwise known as the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill. The bill, which drew local and international attention, was signed into law by Buhari on May 31, 2018 at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in the presence of some young Nigerians, the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Movement. The law reduces the age qualification for president from 40 years to 35 years; governor,from 35 years to 30 years; senator, from 35 years to 30 years; House of Representatives membership, from 30 years to 25 years; and State House of Assembly membership, from 30 years to 25 years.
Another outstanding bill passed, entitled: “Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities (Prohibition) Bill 2018’’ is meant to cater for the more than 25 million persons living with disabilities in the country. The bill was signed into law by Buhari on January 23 this year, a few days to the 2019 general elections. The Act, which guarantees right to maintain civil action for damage by the person injured against any defaulter, prohibits all forms of discrimination on grounds of disability and imposes fine of N1, 000, 000 for corporate bodies and N100, 000 for individuals or a term of six months imprisonment for violation.
It also provides for a five-year transitional period within which public buildings, structures or automobile are to be modified to be accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities, including those on wheelchairs. The Act, which stipulates that all public organisations are to reserve at least five per cent of employment opportunities for these persons, also establishes in Section 31 the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities with Executive Secretary as the head.
The Whistle Blowers Protection Bill is another important bill the National Assembly deliberated on and it seeks to facilitate and encourage the disclosure of improper conduct by persons, public officers and corporate bodies whether private and public. It is also to ensure adequate protection of whistle blowers from reprisals, victimisation, isolation and humiliation, which are said to be some of the consequences of whistle-blowing.
Other bills passed include the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, 2016; Terrorism Bill, 2015; Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill, 2015; National Minimum Wage Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015; National Broadcasting Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015; and North East Development Commission Bill, 2015.
The Fiscal Responsibility (Amendment) Bill, 2015; Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015; Appropriation Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015; National Council of Traditional Rulers Bill, 2015; Utilities Charges Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015; and National Identity Management Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015 were also passed.
Spokesman of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, said members of the National Assembly had performed creditably in the last four years, in their core duty of law-making.
According to him, law making is the principal job and duty of a legislator and each lawmaker should have key areas of interest he or she wants to specialise in.
Namdas said, “You must be conversant with the laws as some of the laws could be in different forms; the bill could either be amended or you want to repeal the law or you want a fresh law, depending on which area of interest. But if you don’t have the knowledge, you may not be in the position to even amend or sponsor the amendment.
“The President does not assent to some of the bills, that is why you will see some bills in the fifth assembly recurring.’’
He admitted that there might be some instances when the Executive might not be on the same page with the Legislature for some reasons. “When the Executive has a feeling that a bill is trying to subvert it or trying to undermine the Executive power, even as good as it may be, it will not be signed into law. These are some of the challenges. There are bills that the Legislature has been able to put in place but they have not been assented to,’’ he said.
Namdas also cited the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, which the president declined his assent to, assuring Nigerians that the re-elected members would take the bill up from where it stopped. “For some of us, who have been re-elected, we will still have to go back and work to ensure that the bill is fully assented to in the 9th National Assembly,” he noted.
Paul Rewane, a Political analyst, said, as against the falsehood of political detractors, the President of Nigerian 8th Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has achieved more than any of his predecessors in office.
He said, “Since the 8th National Assembly was inaugurated on June 9, , the 8th Senate has beenthe most productive since 1999. It has surpassed the 5th Senate, which with 129 bills in four years, had the highest number of bills, as against the 6th Senate with 72 bills, and 128 passed by the 7th Senate.”
He further said that the 8th National Assembly, under Saraki, worked to grow the economy, passing bills like: the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Bill; the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill; the Witness Protection Bill; the Whistleblower Protection Bill and the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill ”to support the fight against corruption.
He added that the Assembly quickly rose to the occasion to prevent the expulsion of Nigeria from the Global community on the exchange of financial intelligence by expediting the passage of the NFIU bill.
“Under Saraki as the leader, the National Assembly, at various times, engaged with security agencies to ensure that requisite laws and funds needed to ensure the safety of lives and property in the country were put in place,” he said.
Also speaking on the achievements of the National Assembly under his leadership, Saraki said the 8th Senate worked ”assiduously and diligently to meet the demands of Nigerians”.
“In this time, we have passed 213 Bills, cleared 138 petitions submitted by the public. We are happy to say that this Senate is the most productive since 1999. It has surpassed the 5th Senate which with 129 bills in four years had the highest number of bills.
“The number of petitions we have successfully treated to the satisfaction of Nigerians who filed them dwarfed those treated by the sixth and seventh Senate respectively.”
He added that the present Senate had worked to grow the economy by passing Bills like: the Companies and Allied Matters Act; the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act; the Credit Bureau Reporting Act and the Warehouse Receipts Bill; Nigerian Railways Authority Bill; National Transportation Commission Bill, “which are aimed at providing significant reforms to our business environment and strengthening our lending legislative frameworks.”
The senate president noted, “We are particularly glad that the impact of the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act and the Credit Bureau Reporting Act became apparent immediately after they were signed into law as they formed the basis for which the World Bank upgraded the rating of Nigeria in its Annual Ease of Doing Business rating.
“We expect that when the new CAMA, which we just passed becomes law, it will yield an even more significant result in helping small and medium scale entrepreneurs to access capital, grow and multiply.”
The Executive Director, Youth Initiative for Advocacy Growth and Advancement (YIAGA AFRICA) and convener of the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Movement, Mr Samson Itodo, commended the 8th National Assembly lawmakers for the feats achieved in passing the famous bill.
However, analysts are of the opinion that, while the 8th Assembly was not without its shortcomings, the incoming legislators must learn from its huge positives to move Nigeria
forward.
