Since its inauguration on June 13, 2023, the 10th House of Representatives, under the adept leadership of Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D, has taken the bull by the horn in facing the daunting task before it. Comprising of members knowledgeable in diverse endeavors, the Green Chamber has lived up to the bill of making laws for the good governance of Nigeria, representing the 360 federal constituencies adequately and oversighting the countless government agencies in the country.
In taking stock of the activities of the House in one year, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, working with his colleagues, presented to the Nigerian people, a historic scorecard titled ‘One Year in the Peoples’ House: Performance Report of the First Session of the Tenth House of Representatives of the Fourth Republic, Federal Republic of Nigeria.’ It was made public on Wednesday, July 3, 2024 during the Open Week of the Green Chamber, another unprecedented innovation in the history of the House.
At the event, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen has underscored how his leadership ensured an inclusive and participatory legislature in the past one year. He noted that “The 10th House of Representatives has been committed to running an open House that actively incorporates citizens’ input in lawmaking and oversight processes. We have made concerted efforts to listen to the voices of our constituents and reflect their aspirations in our legislative activities.
“Through town hall meetings, public hearings, and stakeholder engagements, we have ensured that the legislative process remains inclusive and participatory. This approach not only enhances the quality of our laws but also ensures that our decisions are rooted in the genuine needs and desires of the Nigerian people. No chamber of the National Assembly has undertaken such an initiative.”
A perusal of the report indicated that one of the early critical decisions taken by the Speaker Abbas-led House was the setting up of the Standing Committees, announced on Thursday, July 27, 2023. The Speaker’s innovative thoughts led to the establishment of the Committee on Legislative Agenda and the Committee on Monitoring and Evaluation of the Standing Committees. While the former’s role is to ensure the full implementation of the House Legislative Agenda, the latter was to pay adequate attention to the other Standing Committees, ensuring that they meet their terms of reference.
To demonstrate its staidness, the Abbas Tajudeen-led House came up with an 8-point Legislative Agenda to complement the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration. The key thematic areas of the Legislative Agenda are: strengthening good governance; improving national security; law reform; economic growth and development; social sector reform and development; inclusion and open parliament; influencing/directing Nigeria’s foreign policy, and climate change and environmental sustainability. The Speaker unveiled the Legislative Agenda on November 14, 2023.
The Legislative Agenda is anchored on 12 points across five pillars, which include improved National Assembly processes and delivery; executive-legislative engagement; national security; constitutional and electoral reform; advancement of innovation and technology; socioeconomic development; anti-corruption; re-engineering foreign policy; civil society and citizens’ engagement; women’s participation in government and environmental sustainability and green energy. The priorities focus on economic empowerment and diversification, infrastructure development, education and human capital development, healthcare for all, and transparent governance and accountability.
In the area of law-making, as of June 13, 2024, a total of 1,351 bills were introduced for First Reading on the floor of the House, the highest ever introduced in the first session of the House since 1999. Out of these, 1,339 bills (99%) were sponsored by members of the House, while 12 bills (1%) were brought by the Executive arm. This is a demonstration of the members’ readiness to face the business of lawmaking squarely.
The statistics further shows that 112 Bills were referred to the various Standing Committees for legislative action, out of which 89 were passed. Eighty of the bills passed were sponsored by members of the House, while nine were Executive Bills. Currently, there are 1,068 bills awaiting Second Reading and 81 bills awaiting consideration by the House. The report indicates that only one bill was negatived – rejected in one year.
Suffice it to say that the above data clearly prove how committed the 10th House, aptly christened the ‘Peoples’ House,’ is to excel and make Nigeria better through one of its primary functions – lawmaking.
Nigerians have often yearned for early commencement of constitution amendment in every Assembly. Again, in this regard, the 10th House has taken the lead by kickstarting the process of the alteration of the 1999 Constitution not just early but also giving it all the necessary attention it deserves.
Chaired by the Deputy Speaker Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, the Committee on the Review of the Constitution began by organizing citizens’ engagement sessions in February 2024, less than nine months into the life of the 10th House. The committee succeeded in collating inputs from Nigerians into the constitution amendment process and has since established a timeline of activities, setting a deadline of December 2025 to come up with concrete outcomes. The aim of this early start is to address pressing national issues outside election periods.
On motions and resolutions, which fall under representation, the House also made significant strides. Motions are tools through which legislatures perform their representative functions. They can lead to far-reaching resolutions by parliaments. In the period covering June 13, 2023 to June 13, 2024, the House received a total of 679 motions, out of which 629 (93%) were referred to different Standing Committees, while 43 were referred to Ad Hoc Committees. Seven motions were negatived.
An analysis of the motions based on the eight thematic areas of the House Legislative Agenda indicates that 83 pertained to strengthening good governance; 129 on improving national security; 27 were on law reform: streamlining and improving the constitutional reform process; 98 on economic growth and development; 242 were on social sector reform and development; 22 on inclusion and open parliament; 8 on influencing/directing Nigeria’s foreign policy and 70 on climate change and environmental sustainability.
Traditionally, the House of Representatives also serves as an ombudsman to Nigerians through the public petition mechanism. Citizens are allowed to bring complaints regarding unfair treatments and other grievances before the House. The Committee on Public Petitions handles such matters after receiving referrals from the House. From June 13, 2023 to June 13, 2024, the House received 306 petitions and considered 30 of them. Reports on 15 petitions were laid on the floor of the House, while 5 were resolved. Others are awaiting action by the House.
More than ever before, the 10th House has upped citizens’ engagements, ensuring that Nigerians are given the opportunity to partake in the decision-making process of the Green Chamber. Some examples will suffice.
First, in developing its Legislative Agenda, the House held a townhall meeting where it engaged the citizens and ensured it incorporated their inputs into the document. Second, the House organized another townhall meeting in response to the concerns raised by the citizens on the credibility of the country’s electoral processes. Inputs from the citizens are expected to form part of the ongoing amendment to the Electoral Act 2022. Third, there was also a citizens’ townhall on the 2024 budget.
Other citizens’ engagements organized by the House during its First Session were the National Dialogue on State Policing; National Discourse on Nigeria’s Security Challenges and Good Governance at the Local Government Level; a 2-day retreat for members of the House on the effective implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and tax reform modernization, and, of course, the House Open Week, where the one-year scorecard was unveiled.
Arguably, the most important bill in the life of any Assembly is the Appropriation Bill. This is because its passage ensures the payment of workers’ salary, execution of capital projects and the day-to-day running of government. Without Appropriation, government activities will come to a halt.
Thus, to strengthen the budget process, the House, through the Committee on Appropriations chaired by Hon. Abubakar Kabir Bichi, held a budget townhall meeting in November, 2023 where the chairman noted that, “This Town Hall is important in promoting the integrity of the budgeting process.” The committee held several engagements with the relevant MDAs on the 2024 Appropriation Bill before its passage in December, 2023. The Committee’s innovations in handling the 2024 budget and the 2023 supplementary budget referred to it in late October 2023 were instrumental in the successes the House has recorded so far in budget process.
The 10th House also instituted strong oversight mechanisms by receiving briefs from MDAs through the relevant Standing Committees, oversight visits and inspections to MDAs and projects, engagement with the Appropriation Bill, public and investigative hearings, public petitions, interactive meetings etcetera.
One area that the Speaker Abbas-led House also paid ample attention to is the implementation and maintenance of Constituency and Zonal Intervention Projects, otherwise known as ‘constituency projects.’ A framework for managing the projects after completion was pioneered, which includes a formal handover to state or local government for continuous maintenance to ensure that benefits of the projects are preserved and effectively managed.
Members of the House have equally provided interventions in the area of constituency outreach and empowerment, individually, to ameliorate the hardship being faced by their constituents. Such interventions came in form of foodstuffs and other necessities.
For emphasis, the reports noted that the House has set a new standard for legislative practice in Nigeria through the creation of new and specialized committees, sectoral debates, and ministerial briefings at plenary sessions. For the first time in the history of the Nigerian Legislature, the House has introduced the use of sign language in the chamber, where experts are engaged to interpret the plenary proceedings to the hearing-impaired in real time. The Speaker also established, for the first time, the Programmes Coordinating Unit under his office, which increased interface with civil society organizations.
Additionally in the past year, the Abbas Tajudeen-led House has visited and intervened in crisis and conflict-affected communities across Nigeria. The Speaker, for the first time in history, held a World Press Conference on February 8, 2024 to address national issues.
Also, in the past year, the House has established and fostered a harmonious working relationship with the two other arms of government, especially the Executive. Having a good understanding with the Executive arm entails mutual respect and collaboration that works for all, which, in the long run, brings about political stability that benefits the citizens. In our country, we are all witnesses to the outcomes of the sour relationship that characterized past legislatures and the Executive. This time around, as was the case in the immediate past Assembly, the House enjoys a good working relationship with the Executive, which was why its Legislative Agenda complements the Renewed Hope Agenda of the current government.
Despite the successes recorded in its First Session, the House also encountered some challenges, which include high turnover rate that created capacity gaps; House chambers repairs, which disrupted legislative activities; economic downturn and funding, leading to inadequate funding of House activities; elevated public expectations, putting additional pressure on legislative performance; increased pressure, which divert focus on core legislative functions; poor perception and limited public understanding of the workings of the House; gender representation, among others.
From the foregoing, it is safe to say that the 10th House of Representatives has indeed done things differently in the past one year.
- Krishi is the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Speaker, House of Representatives.
