In this report, Kolawole Daniel writes on the one year anniversary of the Seventh Session of the House of Representatives, giving highlights on the activities of some lawmakers in the green chamber.BEFORE the 2011 general election, the political calculation was that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, would be reconsider to serve as the Speaker. But that calculation failed to come to fruition because he was defeated during the election. Even at that, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has a majority of members in the House, had zoned the speakership position to the South-West. But that, again, was never to be, as the anointed candidate of the party, the current House Leader, Honourable Mulikat Adeola-Akande, was defeated by the incumbent Speaker, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, on June 6, 2011, after the inauguration of the House.This development however threw up two challenges at the Honourable Tambuwal-led House, as the actions and inactions of the Sixth Session of the House of Representatives made Nigerians to lose faith in them. This was in addition to the challenge faced by the lawmakers of PDP extraction in their attempt to appease the party hierarchy for going against its directive on which zone to produce the Number Four position. Immediately after the election of Tambuwal and his Deputy, Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, the House and its leadership swung into action to give Nigerians a new hope and promise of what to expect from them within the four-years tenure they have before the next general election in 2015.To make Nigerians believe that they were really out to represent them, the House came up with a document tagged 'Legislative Agenda,' detailing what it stood for and what it intended to achieve before the end of the Seventh Session.Partly, the House, in the document, claimed that 'the Seventh Session of the House of Representatives (HoR) (2011 ' 2015) is committed to honouring the faith and trust reposed in it by the Nigerian people and we are determined to chart a new course of legislative business for the benefit of our people'.The agenda, according to the lawmakers, 'is an agenda that seeks to reform our processes in the House, identify our legislative priorities and outline a programme of action to achieve the goals that we have set for ourselves'.While committing itself to the document, the House promised that, 'over the next four years, the House of Representatives will pursue an aggressive legislative agenda to reposition itself as a key branch of government able and determined to deliver on the key elements of governance. We acknowledge that the House has had to navigate the difficult terrain of winning public trust and confidence and even of being the champion of the people's cause.'Years of struggling to establish adequate legislative mores and practices, especially upon the return to democratic rule in May 1999, has meant that some of the things we have done may not have met public expectation.'We have, a lot of times, not communicated enough, our legislative intentions or priorities. The effort to establish the House as a major institution of democracy in service of the Nigerian people has proved to be a slow and difficult one. We make bold to state and with great assurance to the Nigerian people that the legislature has come of age. It is a new day ' a new House of Representatives, and we are prepared to meet and surpass the expectations of the Nigerian people to represent their best interests.'Fully aware of the support of the citizens at the inception of the Seventh House, we are committed to advancing the boundaries and experience of democratic representation in Nigeria. In this regard, the House of Representatives will work in partnership and harmony with our colleagues in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to legislate for the common good and in the greater interest of the Nigerian people.'We will also seek the cooperation of other arms of government, particularly the executive, in order to improve living conditions in Nigeria and make the government more responsive to the needs of our people. The legislative agenda of the House will aim at reviving and diversifying the economy, generating employment, strengthening our national security, curbing corruption, tackling the electricity crisis and general infrastructural decay that confront us, improving our health and educational sectors and work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).'The agenda will also emphasise the importance of amending the Constitution to address several areas of concern. Our legislative agenda will be people-centred and correspond to the expectations of Nigerians.Therefore, we seek to do things differently and reverse the notion of business-as-usual approach that has been a source of worry to our people. We will be sensitive to what the Nigerian people want and increase our public sensitivity quotient.'The Seventh House of Representatives seeks to build a new image for the legislature ' a strong, vibrant and effective legislature, able to assert itself as an important partner with other arms of government in the delivery of good governance, due process and rule of law', the House claimed.In the concluding part of the document, the House went philosophical, saying, 'our mandate is a call to national duty which we must rise to. Undoubtedly, the expectations are high. It will be hard work. The challenge of developing our nation calls for the active participation of all stakeholders. With the commitment of all of us, we shall succeed as we deliberate and seek to implement this House of Representatives National Legislative Agenda.There are challenges ahead of us and we believe that our work here will mark a watershed in the political history of Nigeria'.Indeed, things seemed to be working well for the ambitious lawmakers that formed the seventh session of the House in the last one year, until recently when allegations of corruption set in and almost eroded the needed trust and confidence the lawmakers had been trying to build in the eyes of the Nigerian populace. The setbacks suffered by the House include the inconclusive probe of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over the allegation that it failed to remit the whopping sum of N450 billion to the Federation Account, the N44 million bribery allegation levelled against the suspended House committee chairman on Capital Market and other Institutions, Honourable Herman Hembe by the suspended Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Arumah Oteh and the most recent allegation of $3 million levelled against the former chairman, House ad hoc Committee on Subsidy Regime Management, Honourable Farouk Lawan.However, aside some of the minuses mentioned above, the House has performed creditably well in some areas. Its chairman, Rules and Business, Honourable Albert Sam-Tsokwa, while briefing newsmen on the one-year anniversary of the seventh House, said the chamber received a total of 273 bills, 136 of the which were awaiting second reading; 33 constitution amendment bills, 78 bills referred to committees, 11 bills awaiting consideration in the House Committee of the Whole. A total of 32 bills, he said, were already passed, while just 11 bills were either 'negatived' or withdrawn. He also said that the House received 278 motions and 178 petitions, which he said were adequately attended to by it.Besides motions and bills, the House ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review, headed by Honourable Ihedioha, has also started work to make the constitution amendment process a success. Basically, the feat enumerated by Honourable Sam-Tsokwa would not have been possible if not for contributions of members in moving motions and presenting bills for the consideration of the House. All the principal officers of the House have also, in their own little way, contributed to the smooth running of the House. Aside the House Leader, Honourable Adeola-Akande, who is statutorily bound to present executive bills, other members and principal officers, too, have been doing fine in moving motions and presenting bills.The House Minority Whip, Honourable Samson Osagie, through a motion, directed the House attention to the alleged N450 billion debt NNPC owed the Federation Account. But the probe later turned messy, with some members staging a walk-out on the panel consisting of the House Committee on Finance, Petroleum Resources Upstream and Downstream. The first major motion by the House under review was moved by Honourable Tajudeen Yusuf on June 29, 2011 entitled 'The imminent strike action by the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE'. A truce was reached to forestall the strike action.Yusuf equally moved the motion on the removal of subsidy alongside 60 other members. Honourable Peace Nnaji, on her part, moved a motion on 'Impending strike action by the organised labour over non-implementation of the N18,000 national minimum wage'. The motion created an avenue for the House to step into the situation, leading to series of meetings, and the whole issue was resolved.The chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Honourable Olamilekan Adeola, through his committee, has also shown that the house meant business, ordering various government Ministries, Departments and Agencies to refund monies they failed to return to the treasury following the Auditor General of the Federation report on them.Honourable Ibrahim El-Sudi, chairman of the ad hoc committee on the near collapse of the nation's capital market, is another lawmaker who came in at a time Nigerians had begun to question the integrity of the House owing to the N44 million bribery allegation levelled against the former chairman of the committee, Honourable Hembe.Although the report of the panel is yet to come out, El-Sudi, throughout the duration of the probe, showed a high level of leadership quality, which helped to douse the expected heat during the probe. Honourable Abudu Balogun, within the last one year, has also contributed his own quota to the legislative process through his motion on kerosene scarcity. Much the same can be said of Honourable Bimbo Daramola and Honourable Opeyemi Bamidele who had, at the inception of the present House, served as the ad hoc chairman on Media and Public Affairs, the role he performed creditably despite being a first timer. Again, the substantive House chairman on Media and Public Affairs, Honourable Zakari Mohammed, is also trying his best in reshaping the image of the House through his media background.Though most of the lawmakers in the House have an outlook suggestive of people ready to make a difference in the legislative business, Honourables Uzoma Abonta, Ozomgbachi Ogbuefi, Leo Ogor, Patrick Ikhariale, Abubakar Momoh, Jerry Alagbaso, Friday Itulah, Rose Oko, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, James Faleke, Faparusi Bamidele, Nasiru Baballe, Warman Ogoriba, Uwak Robinson, Daniel Reyenieju, Nnena Elendu, Chris Eta, Abdullahi Salame, Yakubu Dogara, Nasiru Sani, Karimi Sunday, Beni Lar, Sokonte Davies, Akpan Umoh, Toby Okechukwu, Kamil Akinlabi, Bitrus Kaze, Rasaq Bello Osagie, Ndudi Elumelu, Ezuiche Ubani, Oyetunde Ojo, Nkoyo Toyo and Odubote Lanre were among the lawmakers who have made their respective outstanding contributions to the activities of the Seventh Session of the House.However, with one year gone, Nigerians, as expected, will continue to judge the House based on its much talked about legislative agenda. At the end of the Seventh Session of the House, they will definitely take them to task on how far they had gone in living up to the yearnings and aspirations of the electorate. Thus, with free and fair elections in 2015, the lawmakers' scorecards will speak volumes on whether it has been business as usual or unusual.
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