House Bill 2056: Matters Arising

The National Assembly has again demonstrated that it has no intention of putting an end to sneaking in legislation that undermine the interests of Nigeria because lawmakers are unable to subjugate personal interests for the collective interests of Nigerian.

The latest in this path to infamy is the House Bill 2056, A Bill for an Act to Repeal the National Assembly Service Act (No. 63) 2014 and Enact the National Assembly Service Act, 2025 to provide for a clear administrative structure for the National Assembly Service outlining the qualifications for the appointment of Clerks, Heads of Directorates of the National Assembly and the Secretary to the Commission; to enhance professionalism and accountability within the National Assembly’s Administrative framework; and for Related Matters.

The Bill has Hon Dr Samuel Adedayo, Hon Benjamin Kalu, Hon Isiaka Ayokunle, Hon Regina Akume, and Hon Raheem Olawuyi listed as its sponsors. If passed as proposed, the Bill will tactically leave politicians to impose their stooges as the Manager of the National Assembly.

House Bill 2056 might have been packaged to appeal to Nigerians as a tokenistic effort to make the administration of the National Assembly more transparent, consistent with the desire of citizens, but amending the law to render the administration of the parliament more vulnerable to political manipulations is a bad call. The rot that emanates from the institution would be become even more nauseating as those who should be accounting officers become politically beholden to the politicians they should be managing since upcoming officers will be tempted to  defer to the political leadership to clinch the ultimate prize of being named the Clerk of the National Assembly.

There is, therefore, nothing reformist about the Bill. Rather, the Bill seeks to create an exclusive clique of Nigerians who can rise to become the most powerful non-elected office holder in the National Assembly in the office of the Clerk of the National Assembly, while excluding others irrespective of their competence, capabilities or suitability. It would also force out some sterling officers, who could be stagnated and frustrated out of their careers, while depriving the service of institutional proficiency.

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Analysts are concerned that because of some vested interest this bill is being sneaked into legislation and it will revolve around the appointment of the Clerk to the National Assembly. When stripped of legalese, the Bill aims to ensure that only people who have been in the chambers should be appointed as Clerks of the National Assembly. This approach to the emergence of the Clerk might be garnished with sub-sections that seem to encourage career progression but locks out other staff of the National Assembly from aspiring for the post.

For instance, a proposed sub-section under the appointment of the Clerk of the National Assembly states that “The Seniority of any Secretaries outside the Legislative Clerk Cadre shall be personal and shall not be considered in the appointment of Clerk to the National Assembly.”

In simple terms, this is discriminatory and totally against the terms of service upon which many of the National Assembly Service Commission Staff were engaged. It also stifles innovation as it rules out the prospect of a reform minded person outside the Legislative Clerk Cadre ever becoming the Clerk of the National Assembly even when such person possesses the needed will to improve the management of the National Assembly in addition to having the requisite qualifications.

House Bill 2056, if passed as proposed, will also cause disharmony among the staff as its implementation would promote cut-throat approach to career progression while jeopardizing integrity for political patronage. Already, there are indication that the various unions in the National Assembly are set to revolt against the passage of the Bill, which amounts to an avoidable drama and distraction that would do the system no good.

We believe that there are more impactful pieces of legislation that the National Assembly can come up with instead stoking the fires of disaffection and creating the basis for the parliament to become a battleground since the workers have vowed to do all that is necessary to block the Bill, including shutting down the place until the leadership of the National Assembly disowns the document.

Rather than micromanaging the Management of the National Assembly, as House Bill 2056 seeks to do, lawmakers should allow the emergence of the Clerk of the National Assembly to remain organic as envisage by the legislation that they are trying to repeal and reenact into a monstrosity.

We urge the  President of the Senate,Senator Godswill Akpabio, in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Assembly to urgently prevail on the Speaker to invoke the necessary legislative procedure to kill House Bill 2026 as a piece of legislation that could distort the process of  the legislature with the potential wreck havoc on the symbol of democracy in Nigeria as elsewhere. Nigeria as a country has enough problems already. There is therefore no compelling need to expand the troubled horizon. We demand peace and harmony in the legislative arm which the passage of this obnoxious bill will upstage.