9th National Assembly: Beyond passing bills

In assessing the performance of the 9th National Assembly, we have seen how some members of the assembly assessed themselves by using number of bills they sponsored.  

The Senate, according to former Senate president, Ahmad Lawn, passed 112 bills, while the House of Representatives passed 512 bills.  

But conspicuously, what was absent was their record of performance in respect of checks and balances. Zero! 

One of the basic components of a presidential system of government is its inbuilt checks and balances to prevent tyranny and over-concentration of power in one arm.  

In South Africa, for example, the parliament was located in Cape Town while the president and the executive are in Pretoria. Here the separation emerges in the physical location of the arms of government. 

Even ancient political systems like that of the Oyo Empire, the Alaafin was checkmated by the council of Oyo Mesi and Ogboni society. One of the contributing factors to the fall of that empire was abuse of the principle of checks and balances. Bashorun Gaha abused his power so much that four Alaafins met their death under him. 

In this modern era, what for example makes US Congress so strong and effective is not the number of bills it passed but its total independence from executive overbearing. We saw how the House of  Representatives impeached Donald Trump twice. And we saw how the Congress always takes a bi-partisan stand on many critical issues. For example, during the epic of COVID-19 Congress was united, in spite of the stand of  Donald Trump about the pandemic. 

The UK parliament is very strong even in the face BREXIT debate.  

Another instance was how they forced Boris Johnson to resign over sexual harassment allegations and breach of COVID-19 protocols. 

But in Nigeria, the parliament is full of bootlickers who are eager to do the bidding of the C-in-C. The whole notion of separation of power in this country is a sham. With the separation of power, we have witnessed many monumental scandals from ways and means to outright theft. 

The unity and cooperation of the legislators in both houses resulted in an increment of poverty level in the country from 85 million people to over 100 million. 

Comrade Bishir Dauda Sabuwar Unguwa Katsina  

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