Senator Ahmad Lawan, a top contender for the Senate presidency, gives detailed insight into the functions of the legislature and how his leadership would resolve the lingering rift between the executive and legislature in the 9th National Assembly. EZREL TABIOWO reports.
Constitutional role of NASS
The constitution, in my understanding, provides for independence of the executive and legislature. They cannot go it alone and succeed. We have to go with it together to succeed. We have to accommodate each other, without losing role we are given by the constitution.
As a Senate, we are part of government, essentially because we do more than the House of Representatives does, besides law making we have to screen and confirm ministers and chief executive officers of government agencies. We have to approve appointment judges.
We have so much more roles than pure legislation. That gives us so much responsibility in governance and we should not toy with that. In fact, we should do everything possible to enhance that.
We could disagree on a nominee but where we have a nominee for example from the executive arm of government, we shouldn’t take any time in ensuring that that nominee is cleared and passed. Why? Any time that we take in confirming nominee of government hurts the system.
If there are ministerial nominees and you keep them unconfirmed, the civil servants will have a field day. They will do everything possible before the minister comes, and when he comes, he meets a mess of some sort. In fact, if he is not a careful type, he will be immersed in the mess.
And if it is an emergency and you keep someone just in acting capacity, it takes away that feeling of authority that you are the person. Some actions/decisions that ordinarily would have been easy to take by such a person would require him thinking twice because he is in acting capacity.
Unveiling 9th NASS
I believe that we have a date with history. In the past, there was a time when an administration deliberately said no minister should attend a meeting called by committees of the National Assembly. This was way back in the 1990s, 2000 and 2001.
But then again, after getting it right, everybody started respecting the invitation by committees and members of the National Assembly. That is because we were able to identify quickly that we needed to respect ourselves. We need to be both honourable and distinguished members of the National Assembly. We needed to make sure that as individuals and as an institution, we don’t give ourselves away.
The executive arm of government watches keenly, how members of the National Assembly conduct themselves.
We have always gained as an institution when we are able to conduct ourselves properly. First, in terms of our productivity and giving the executive arm legislative interventions we are required to give.
Resolving executive-legislature rift
When we have issues or disagreements on perspectives how we go about handling these issues matter. We don’t have to go to the market square when we differ, whether it is in the Chambers, or between us and the executive arm of government.
I think also that we should have mechanisms that will ensure we find accommodation that will encourage and sustain that business of give and take, to make compromises in national interest. When we are able to do that, we will be able to carry Nigerians along and gain their support, as well as earn the respect of the executive arm of government.
If the opposite happens and we differ, there will be issues. The issues will be that we would miss our target of making laws and legislative interventions that will be helpful in ensuring good governance and service delivery.
Strengthening legislation
Also, when we are not able to agree amongst ourselves, we are exposed. Somehow, we are on different platforms, but these platforms are of a solid single platform. It may be APC, it may be PDP, it may be YPP, it may be APGA, or any other platform but at the end of the day we are members of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The most essential thing is that when we take decisions, or when we discuss issues the platform that we all belong to should help us reach some serious compromise even in the most difficult situations.
Let me give an example of the Petroleum Industry Bill. In the 6th Senate, it was a big issue and couldn’t fly. In the 7th Senate it was a big issue. What were the issues? It was about the host community development fund that was the major issue. However, we devised a means of getting around these issues. We said why don’t we have another process that will engage those who are in support of the host community development fund, most of them from the Niger Delta, and those against it.
We found accommodation, so we could easily have compromises, and horse trading, in order to achieve what is expected of us by our people.
