Focus On The Green Chamber: Will Unhealthy Rivalry Stall Constitution Amendment By 9th Assembly?

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, shocked the country on Monday when he declared that the ongoing amendment to the 1999 Constitution may not be concluded within the lifespan of the 9th National Assembly. Although Gbajabiamila’s lamentation wasn’t the first hint at the failure of the ongoing amendment exercise, nevertheless, the Speaker’s public revelation is too important to be ignored.

The co-chairman of the Joint Committee of the National Assembly on the review of the Constitution, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege had in October alleged that about 25 State Houses of Assembly refused to consider the Amendment Bills transmitted to them and that the delay or eventual refusal may jeopardise the success of the exercise.

With Omo-Agege’s allegations and the response from the Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly, Nigrians were already aware of the issues and expecting a compromise from the state governors, who are fighting a proxy war through their State legislatures and the big men in the National Asembly.

Surprisingly, Gbajabiamila in his usual manner of appealing to public sympathy, announced an impending failure of the parliament he partly leads, without revealing known efforts to avoid the misfortune.

“That process now seems to have stalled in the State Assemblies. As it is today, it is doubtful that the current constitution amendment effort will conclude before the expiration of this legislative term.

“Despite broad national agreement on the need for reform, the potential for achievement can rise or fall based on differences in expectations of the context, pace and direction of the specific proposals.

“The success or failure of every significant governance initiative depends on the extent to which the objective is a shared priority of the different arms of government and, in some cases, of the state governments,” the Speaker said.

In the October 30 edition of this Column tittled, “Bickering Over Ongoing Constitution Amendment, Who Blinks First”, I concluded as follows;  “Although the gladiators can still reach a compromise within the limited time left in the life of the 9th National Assembly, it is intructive  to state that either the National Assembly or the state houses of assembly must shift grounds to ensure that the process is concluded, the question is who blinks first?”

Six weeks after, there hasn’t been a compromise and I am not even sure if there are ongoing efforts to achieve same.

For the record, the issues at stake, although, very sensitive, are not less important. There should be an immediate discussion around it devoid of ego tripping and personal thinking. None of the sitting governors will remain in office for another five years and many of the lawmakers flexing muscles now may also not be in the National Assembly by the time. But the issues will remain, problems not solved now may not be solved even in the two decades.

The demands by the State Houses of Assembly include the Establishment of State Police; Establishment of State Judicial Council; Streamlining  the procedure for removing Presiding Officers of State Houses of Assembly and Institutionalisation of Legislative Bureaucracy in the Constitution.

It is my observation that the States are not ready to back down on these demands, at least not all of them.

The Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who as the chairman of the occasion where Gbajabiamila dropped the bombshell on Monday, spoke shortly before both President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives mounted the podium, and had set the tone for discussion and tactically exposed the mind of the governors.

El-Rufai urged the National Assembly to work on pieces of legislation that would lead to the creation of State Police, advocated legislative screening for federal and state judges, amongst others.

“First, I think we are all clear now that the current policing system is broken and doesn’t work for Nigeria.

“Nigeria is the only federation in the world with one centralised police system.

“I think this National Assembly has the capacity to enact the state and community policing system that prevents the abuses of the past and takes into account the challenges of the present.

“This is something that I recommend actually that we introduce as a constitutional amendment so that all senior judges, judges of Superior Court of record should be subject to confirmation by the state House of Assembly with a National Assembly as the case may be,” the governor said.

The leadership of the National Asembly and its counterparts in the State should stop the blame game and move the country forward by reaching a compromise, politics is give and take!