Former Secretary of Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) Rafiu Lawal-Rabana (SAN) says members of the Nigerian National Assembly must cleanse itself of corruption or corrupt tendencies by looking inwards to remove bad eggs He talked to ABIODUN FAGBEMI in Ilorin.What is your assessment of the current National Assembly, in view of the seeming summersaults of all the probing endeavours they had ever embarked upon'It is unfortunate that since 1999 when the ongoing republic commenced, we had never had any successful probe at the National Assembly. I mean no probe had been concluded with recommendations and actions carried out on such recommendations. Even where they claimed to have done that, Nigerians, who voted them to power, do not know the outcome. Again the style is such that all the probes had been tainted with one form of allegation or the other against the legislators involved in the probing exercise. So concerning their pedigree I would say action speaks louder than voice.What are the needed steps to be taken to restore sanity to the National Assembly's capacity to investigate'To start with, they must have the will and the courage to ensure that their probe exercise is carried out untainted. Again, the Assembly must ensure that all the committee members are prevented from receiving money in whatever form from government agencies or parastatals they are asked to oversee. We must ensure that the composition of such probe committees is made up of members who are not in any way connected to the agency or the parastatals they are to probe.For example, if you are probing the aviation sector, none of the members of the committee on aviation must be involved; I mean none of them with any link with aviation sector should be part of the probe. That should be the starting point to guarantee the impartiality of the probe panel members or the committee. It is natural that no thorough probe could be carried out if there had been cases of where the members performing their oversight functions had taken an advantage of the parastatals they oversee.In advanced democracies probes are comprehensively released to the public with recommendations promptly implemented. How would you assess the situation in Nigeria'You see in Nigeria, apart from treating Nigerians to television show of scandalous allegations, Nigerians don't seem to eventually see the full contents of these reports.For instance, Nigerians would want to know the causes of crisis in any sector or cases of inefficiency in such sectors and the dramatist personae behind it. Is it the management, the enactment, inadequacy of funding, corruption or gross incompetence that has prevented them from functioning' Besides, Nigerians would want solutions to them. When you highlight all these and we all see it, there can be a way out. But all we have seen so far has been scandalous allegation, creation of tension in the land and wasting of resources. So it has been a hurricane experience that destroys without a remedy on how to halt future hurricane. We need to avoid a situation in which the people probing suddenly become those being probed.There must be an oath to be sworn to by all of the committee members; I mean they must all take oath of honesty. Besides, they must be made to give full disclosures of any existing relationship either by way of affinity or consanguinity, or by way of business between them and the institution being probed.Therefore, when this oath is administered by way of deposing to affidavit, whoever breeches it knows the consequence under the law. When these measures are taken into consideration, there can be neutrality during probing sessions. I think we need to start from somewhere. Again, the terms of reference of this committee must be clear and unambiguous. It must not be a loose cannon. This will effectively guide them against venturing into another thing.'Can there be a reasonable nexus between probe results and the Freedom of Information Act (FOA)'The final responsibility of Nigerians now is to take advantage of the FOI act, by specifically approaching the Clerks of the National Assembly to demand for the reports of these probes. Of course the Clerks know the consequences of any refusal to comply with the demand. I think truly that there is a link between the two as stated by you.When former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently lambasted members of the legislature, some Nigerians felt the statements were rather too harsh. With the recent revelations can we say Obasanjo was right'That is where the question of leadership and integrity came to bear. The National Assembly will have to re-build its image because the image at present is bad. The only way is to be seen as not covering up the rot of some of their members. After all, the collective image of the National Assembly is greater than that of an individual member. The National Assembly will do Nigerians a lot of good now by exposing the bad eggs among them, rather than covering them up.Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have quality leaders. But this is the time to demonstrate that to Nigerians, that no member is greater than the nation itself. While I agree with Obasanjo that some members of the National Assembly are irresponsible, some of them are truly responsible. The statement is too sweeping. But the onus is on them however to tell us that the man (Obasanjo) is wrong. The image of the National Assembly is at stake and the world is watching us.In this case involving Farouk, I think the best thing is to place him on suspension in order to demonstrate utmost good faith. If the public officer is involved, he is immediately placed on suspension, how much more a lawmaker! They should lead by good examples. At the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), Aruma Otte is on suspension pending the outcome of investigation in an allegation against her. In Nigeria, we have seen ministers removed without being charged to court. These are good examples for the national assembly to follow.What is your assessment of the current National Assembly, in view of the seeming summersaults of all the probing endeavours they had ever embarked upon'It is unfortunate that since 1999 when the ongoing republic commenced, we had never had any successful probe at the National Assembly. I mean no probe had been concluded with recommendations and actions carried out on such recommendations. Even where they claimed to have done that, Nigerians, who voted them to power, do not know the outcome. Again the style is such that all the probes had been tainted with one form of allegation or the other against the legislators involved in the probing exercise. So concerning their pedigree I would say action speaks louder than voice.What are the needed steps to be taken to restore sanity to the National Assembly's capacity to investigate'To start with, they must have the will and the courage to ensure that their probe exercise is carried out untainted. Again, the Assembly must ensure that all the committee members are prevented from receiving money in whatever form from government agencies or parastatals they are asked to oversee. We must ensure that the composition of such probe committees is made up of members who are not in any way connected to the agency or the parastatals they are to probe.For example, if you are probing the aviation sector, none of the members of the committee on aviation must be involved; I mean none of them with any link with aviation sector should be part of the probe. That should be the starting point to guarantee the impartiality of the probe panel members or the committee. It is natural that no thorough probe could be carried out if there had been cases of where the members performing their oversight functions had taken an advantage of the parastatals they oversee.In advanced democracies probes are comprehensively released to the public with recommendations promptly implemented. How would you assess the situation in Nigeria'You see in Nigeria, apart from treating Nigerians to television show of scandalous allegations, Nigerians don't seem to eventually see the full contents of these reports.For instance, Nigerians would want to know the causes of crisis in any sector or cases of inefficiency in such sectors and the dramatist personae behind it. Is it the management, the enactment, inadequacy of funding, corruption or gross incompetence that has prevented them from functioning' Besides, Nigerians would want solutions to them. When you highlight all these and we all see it, there can be a way out. But all we have seen so far has been scandalous allegation, creation of tension in the land and wasting of resources. So it has been a hurricane experience that destroys without a remedy on how to halt future hurricane. We need to avoid a situation in which the people probing suddenly become those being probed.There must be an oath to be sworn to by all of the committee members; I mean they must all take oath of honesty. Besides, they must be made to give full disclosures of any existing relationship either by way of affinity or consanguinity, or by way of business between them and the institution being probed.Therefore, when this oath is administered by way of deposing to affidavit, whoever breeches it knows the consequence under the law. When these measures are taken into consideration, there can be neutrality during probing sessions. I think we need to start from somewhere. Again, the terms of reference of this committee must be clear and unambiguous. It must not be a loose cannon. This will effectively guide them against venturing into another thing.'Can there be a reasonable nexus between probe results and the Freedom of Information Act (FOA)'The final responsibility of Nigerians now is to take advantage of the FOI act, by specifically approaching the Clerks of the National Assembly to demand for the reports of these probes. Of course the Clerks know the consequences of any refusal to comply with the demand. I think truly that there is a link between the two as stated by you.When former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently lambasted members of the legislature, some Nigerians felt the statements were rather too harsh. With the recent revelations can we say Obasanjo was right'That is where the question of leadership and integrity came to bear. The National Assembly will have to re-build its image because the image at present is bad. The only way is to be seen as not covering up the rot of some of their members. After all, the collective image of the National Assembly is greater than that of an individual member. The National Assembly will do Nigerians a lot of good now by exposing the bad eggs among them, rather than covering them up.Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have quality leaders. But this is the time to demonstrate that to Nigerians, that no member is greater than the nation itself. While I agree with Obasanjo that some members of the National Assembly are irresponsible, some of them are truly responsible. The statement is too sweeping. But the onus is on them however to tell us that the man (Obasanjo) is wrong. The image of the National Assembly is at stake and the world is watching us.In this case involving Farouk, I think the best thing is to place him on suspension in order to demonstrate utmost good faith. If the public officer is involved, he is immediately placed on suspension, how much more a lawmaker! They should lead by good examples. At the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), Aruma Otte is on suspension pending the outcome of investigation in an allegation against her. In Nigeria, we have seen ministers removed without being charged to court. These are good examples for the national assembly to follow.
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