In other climes, there is nothing like constituency projects for lawmakers. But for Nigeria’s peculiarities and for the so called dividends of democracy to reach the must far-flung crevice of the country, it was introduced by the Obasanjo administration.
Hordes of Nigerian, including those supposedly lenient, measure the competencies of Nigerian lawmakers with the multiplicity of their constituency projects. I am often a pariah in such crowds.
This is more reason the government should add more latitude to our civic studies. It could start right from the most basic level through to the tertiary ladder of the country’s education. At least, it will school people on the functions of every arm of government. But haven’t I said that even lenient crowds are mostly found wanting?
The primary responsibility of a lawmaker is making laws that would positively touch lives. Then checking the activities of the officials of other arms, which is called ‘oversighting.’ Every lawmaker ought to be assessed on the basis of his achievements in these primary responsibilities. I got alarmed the other day as a supposedly lenient man was flaying a senator on Twitter for not (personally) constructing a federal road.
Let us now come to the subject of this piece, Senator Muhammad Bima Enagi. He is clocking 551 days as the representative of Niger South Senatorial District at the National Assembly today. How qualitative has his representation been? In a National Assembly where some lawmakers spend terms without any (legislative) achievement, has Bima made leaps?
He has not been leaping; he has rather been flying, considering his achievements even though he is yet to elapse half of his four-year mandate.
When the ninth National Assembly clocked one year in office and the bills sponsored by members were tabulated, Senator Bima was on the front row of the Senate section. The bills he has sponsored include: Establishment of National Rice Development Council, Establishment of Shea-nut Development Council, Regulation of Importation and use of Generating Sets to Curb Menace of Environmental Pollution and Development of Power Sector as well as National Animals Identification and Management Bureau for the purpose of animal identification and traceability, considering the high rate of cattle rustling with which the country has been battling.
Other bills he has sponsored are: Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund, A Bill for an Act to Amend the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act, A Bill for an Act to Regulate and Control Building and Construction Industry Safety and A Bill for an Act to Establish Federal Agriculture and Maritime Studies in Mokwa, Niger State.
Senator Bima has also sponsored a Bill for an Act to Further the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Provide for the Regulation of Corrupt Acquisition of Property and Ancillary Matters, A Bill for an Act to Amend the National Land Development Authority Act and a Bill for an Act to Amend the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation Act.
The quality of the bills cannot be over-emphasised, considering the fact that most of them are billed to promote agriculture, which many development experts argue is the ultimate sector that will heal what ails Nigeria developmentally.
Although its sponsorship triggered a lot of raucous among Nigerians probably because they did not pause to read its content before critiquing it or unsheathing their swords, those of us who did were able to glean the wisdom underlying his generating set regulation bill. If generating sets aren’t available to offer alternate power, the government cannot help but take whatever measure it ought to take to solve the perennial problem. We should not forget that the elites have more to lose if the regulation eventually materialises, and being a senator in Nigeria automatically makes one elitist, hence the bill is pro-masses.
In movement of motions, he has carried out a number, each in the interest of his constituents and the generality of Nigerians. Worthy of note is the one he did on the delay in the operationalisation of the Hydro-electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPADEC) several years after it was passed into law. Apparently spurred by his motion and his other advocacies over it, President Muhammad Buhari transmitted a letter to the senate last week seeking confirmation of the people he nominated to head the commission, and that signalled its take-off.
Another worthy motion he has sponsored concerns Baro port. The motion called on the federal government to complete all the necessary components whose incompletion is not allowing operations to start at the port. Perhaps because of the economic revolution that is being said the port is capable of triggering, Senator Bima has been perpetually calling on the government to promptly see to its operationalisation at every platform he sees. Few months back, he led legislators and local government chairmen from Niger South to the port for inspection and press conference, all in a bid to get the concerned authorities to do the needful.
Niger state is currently infamous for bad roads. The Senator has raised motions calling for the intervention of the federal government. He has also moved motions concerning Nigeria’s ecological problems, against the backdrop of the rainstorms and flooding that batter some part of Niger South during rainy seasons.
Proven by the investigations carried out by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC), It is infamous in the country that many lawmakers conspire with officials of MDAs and contractors to corner their constituency projects funds. With the projects in the works and the one already completed, Senator Bima has proven to be a difference. For 2019, even though what was voted had been halved by his predecessor, he was able to make a giant step towards addressing the crunching scarcity of healthy water in some parts of Niger South by either resuscitating or sinking about 30 motorized boreholes.
Also for the 2019 fiscal year, he was able to construct a few feeder roads, renovate or build and furnish classrooms in dozens of schools, powered some rural communities with solar, trained and empowered women and youths to become self-employed, built or upgraded ICT and skills learning centres and having them equipped, took relief materials to constituents affected by natural disasters, and secured appointments for dozens of people.
For the 2020 fiscal year, the following have been designed to be achieved: construction of fish markets and solar lights, electrification of a number of communities in Katcha, Lavun, Gbako, Agaie and Lapai LGAs, installation of solar streetlights across the senatorial district, construction of erosion control drains across the district to combat erosion, and renovation or construction of classrooms at dozens of schools requiring them and having them befittingly equipped to aid learning.
Also billed to be achieved within the 2020 fiscal year are construction of more rural access roads, construction of ICT and skills learning centres in LGAs that were previously not captured, and training of thousands of youths in various lucrative skills across the district.
Thanks to him, presently, construction of modernised failed Bida’s famous city gates are going on. The ideation alone is commendable, as it is an adroit way of preserving history. If the beauty I saw in the designs becomes landmarks, the gates could attract tourists and evoke a sense of aesthetics.
Everything has shown that within the 551 days Senator Bima has so far reigned as a legislator, he has not solely flown in his primary responsibilities — bills, motions and oversights — but he has also been sterling in the secondary by delivering projects that are tactile to the people.
But someday before the end of his reign, we will unfurl our scalpels to lacerate the number of his bills that got passed into law. Thus we are going to unravel his true legislative competency. Therefore, he should be adroit in pressing the right buttons to see that every or most of his bills or motions do not whirl and fizzle out only at the chambers.
Yabagi writes from Minna
