Before democratic Nigeria dies, save the legislature

The recent Presidential elections in the United States have come and gone, even as lessons from the dispensation still and will linger for some time to come. Yet one of such lessons for Nigeria remains the fact that but for the integrity of that country’s political structures, a political rookie like Donald Trump would not have beaten a White House juggernaut like Hillary Clinton, to emerge as President -elect of the country and soon the occupant of the most powerful political seat in the world. The US political institutions under consideration supersede individuals and therefore provided a level playing ground for all candidates.

Given the fact that Nigeria’s democratic infrastructure was developed after the US model, it is not surprising that one typical question that is inspired by the Trump experience has been whether such an upset in political outcomes can happen in Nigeria? The question is coming against the backdrop of the clear divergence between the American model of Presidential democracy and the Nigerian imitation which has failed to match the elegance of its model. An answer to the question that fails to accommodate the ‘Nigerian factor’ (to be clarified soon), may be misleading.

Whereas the US scenario is in strict compliance with the provisions of that country’s constitution and laws, typical landmark developments in the Nigerian political terrain are guided a little bit differently through a frame of slack compliance with the constitution and laws, on which is imposed the ‘Nigerian factor’ - a dubious name for a corrupting influence that thrives on unverifiable ‘conditional respect for culture and tradition and accommodation of vested interests’.

Little wonder Nigeria’s democracy seemingly is always fighting for free air to breathe. And a major casualty of this anomalous state of affairs is the first arm of government, the nation’s legislative establishment which is the foundation on which democracy rests. Its primacy is informed by the fact that it directly represents the people, with a mandate to ensure that government is run strictly in line with their expectations. Legislators are therefore the real government which people actually see. It is therefore their statutory burden to serve as the eye, nose and mouth of the people, and are so treated all over the civilized world where democracy prevails.

It is against the backdrop of the foregoing that some concerned citizens view with worry some developments around the country’s legislative establishment, which indicate that many Nigerians including those of older generations may be forgetting the labours of our heroes - both living and past, through which the tree of democracy was sowed and repeatedly revived after several efforts to kill it. In recalling the selfless sacrifices they made for the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria, which claimed precious lives of countless Nigerians, it behooves the present generation of Nigerians to sustain the democratic project and bequeath same to succeeding generations.

For instance, it does not require the attribute of clairvoyance to see that the Nigerian legislature - ranging from the National Assembly to the Local Government legislative chambers remains an endangered species which suffers from a complement of debilitating conditions that deny it the opportunity to grow and lead the processes of governance in Nigeria; just as the provisions of the constitution dictate. Among its woes are two The National Assembly therefore remains the only viable platform for driving the democratic aspirations of the country. Even at that the institution is systemically confined to the role of a whipping boy by the Nigeria power establishment, courtesy of a wide spread but jaundiced perception of it by the status quo as a competitor for power with the executive arm most acute challenges which are paucity of resource endowment and institutional suppression.

As is common knowledge the legislative chambers at the 774 local government councils in Nigeria only exist in a dysfunctional state. Hardly is any of them allowed to feature even in an advisory capacity to the growth of their localities. Presently official records indicate that only 10% of local government councils across the country are elected. The rest are operated by care taker committees who are nothing other than errand boys and girls for the governors. The matter is not helped by the federal government which pays monthly allocation to unelected local government councils as the exercise has institutionally neutralized the need for elections into local governments and thereby stabbed grassroots democracy in the back.

At the state tier the members of the state houses of assembly have traditionally been cowered by their respective governors into ‘paper tigers’ from whom the people derive limited dividends of legislative enterprise. The state assemblies are run as mere extensions of the respective government houses thereby vitiating whatever legislative enterprise that could have been mustered.

The National Assembly therefore remains the only viable platform for driving the democratic aspirations of the country. Even at that the institution is systemically confined to the role of a whipping boy by the Nigeria power establishment, courtesy of a wide spread but jaundiced perception of it by the status quo as a competitor for power with the executive arm. It is therefore not out of place to worry over its fortunes or otherwise, especially in a season of recession when budget belt tightening is the sermon.

Incidentally, unconfirmed, privileged information indicate that the National Assembly may have its 2017 budget reduced to just N105 billion which represents a further cut of N10 billion from the 2016 figure of N115 billion. Already due to the relatively low budget for 2016, the institution has been reeling from a huge burden of debts to staff, contractors, legislative aides and legislators themselves. Recently the legislative aides broke with tradition as they marched out in a public protest over debts owed them. With further budget cut in 2017, it is easy to see the institution may have its neck wrung like that of a chicken, as its capacity to operate effectively in a state of insolvency will be challenging.

At least three factors disqualify any further budget cuts for the nation’s central legislature. Firstly is the astronomical increase in the price of foreign exchange for an organization with a high foreign content in its routine operations. If with the current budget cut the business of the establishment with the rest of the world suffered gravely, it can be imagined what may happen when further financial squeeze of the National Assembly is made. Secondly is the fact that with the recession biting harder and longer, the legislators who are often the only ‘interventionists ’and agents of change in their constituencies, shall be under increased pressure from their constituents for relief.

Thirdly is the systemic factor of institutional capacity for the establishment to carry out due oversight functions. If the ongoing war on corruption shall enjoy the unfettered participation of the legislature their capacitation needs to be marshaled effectively. Perhaps unknown to many Nigerians the anti-corruption war is actually a task for the legislature. And the constitution provides for the systematic execution of this task by the legislature to whom the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF) submits his or her report. The report of the AuGF is forwarded to the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly for legislative action.