Stakeholders have vehemently rejected the National Assembly’s plans to create regional liaison offices in the country’s six geopolitical zones.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the National Assembly had put machinery in motion to establish the regional offices in addition to the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, and the existing office in Lagos, the nation’s former capital.
The stakeholders, including officials of the National Assembly bureaucracy and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) argue that such structures constitute constitutional aberrations and a waste of public resources.
Some top management staff who expressed their misgivings about the development on the condition of anonymity said the planned regional offices were intended to be more of protocol units.
As such, the regional offices would merely serve the protocol and logistics needs of the presiding officers—the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives—whenever they visit any state within a particular region for official and unofficial purposes.
Sections 47-49 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, provide for the establishment and composition of the National Assembly. The Constitution also provides for the staff of the National Assembly in Section 51.
It states that “there shall be a Clerk to the National Assembly and such other staff as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly, and the method of appointment of the Clerk and other staff of the National Assembly shall be as prescribed by that Act.”
Equally, the Constitution also provides for the establishment and composition of a state’s House of Assembly. It further states that the Independent National Electoral Commission shall conduct elections into three Senatorial districts for elections to the Senate and 360 Federal constituencies for elections to the House of Representatives.
Consequently, there are 469 National Assembly Constituency offices for each Senator and Member of the House of Representatives nationwide.
A senior staff member of the National Assembly, who does not want to be mentioned as the matter has not yet become public, said it would amount to a constitutional aberration for the National Assembly to create regional offices despite the presence of State Houses of Assembly and 469 constituency offices for all federal lawmakers.
The bureaucrat argued that just as the Presidency and Supreme Court do not have regional offices in the federal system, there is no basis for the National Assembly to have such a structure and called on the leadership to rethink the plan.
“We are worried about the plan by the present leadership of the National Assembly to establish six regional offices for the institution of the federal legislature. This will amount to constitutional aberration because, as a federal system, there is a National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly in the 36 federation states.
“While the National Assembly legislates for the federal government, State Houses of Assembly legislates for their respective states, so there is practically no need for National Assembly regional offices. This practice is not obtainable anywhere globally, and Nigeria cannot be an exception.
“There are also 469 constituency offices for federal lawmakers and any member of the National Assembly, including the presiding officers, that have anything to do with any state or region, those constituency offices can serve the purpose.
“There is no clear function or purpose for the planned regional offices. The template shows that those offices would be merely protocol units for the presiding officers – Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies when they have any function outside Abuja.
The official explained that the National Assembly office in Lagos performs protocol functions due to its status as former Nigerian capital and its informal status as the nation’s business capital.
Another top management staff member who also pleaded anonymity said creating regional offices for the National Assembly would be a waste of public resources, more so because the federal legislature leadership always complains of inadequate resources allocated to the institution in the national budget.
“Apart from being a waste of public resources – as those offices have no value addition to the core functions of the legislature, which are lawmaking and oversight, their creation will further take a toll on the National Assembly. The National Assembly budget for 2024 and the one proposed for 2025 is less than N350 billion.
“The sum is allocated to lawmakers, legislative aides, National Assembly office, National Assembly Service Commission, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, Public Complaints Commission, National Assembly Library, amongst others.
“It is now surprising that the leadership, which often complains that the National Assembly budget is inadequate, is planning to create additional financial responsibilities -six regional offices where new structures would be erected, and staff redeployed and employed fresh because the National Assembly is even understaffed,” the management staff noted.
Speaking on the issue, some civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have said that the National Assembly’s plans are not in Nigeria’s best interest.
The CSOs who spoke to LEADERSHIP are the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), Transparency International (TI), and the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC).
Speaking through their leader, Awwal Musa Rafsanjani, the CSOs said the leadership of the National Assembly’s attempt to create the so-called regional offices would not advance the country’s interest and that of the legislature as an institution.
Rafsanjani said Nigerians expect their National Assembly to do its utmost to cut the cost of governance and waste public resources, block opportunities for corruption, encourage responsible spending in the country, and not create avenues for waste.
“Sadly, this has not been the case in most cases. Rather, Nigerians witness desperate efforts from some of the National Assembly members who engage in wasteful and non-accountable expenditures. This is even as the nation faces serious economic challenges occasioned by looting, mismanagement and waste of national wealth,” he said.
For his part, Armsfree Ajanaku, executive director of the Grassroots Centre for Rights and Civic Orientation, said that each legislator is supposed to have a constituency office; as such, the regional offices are useless and will not add value to governance.
“Given that each legislator is supposed to have a constituency office, what use is the regional office, and what value will it add to governance?
“Without a doubt, this comes across as one of those endless schemes meant to expend public funds recklessly, and it will not improve the fortunes of Nigerians. Those toying with such a profligate idea should stop playing and get serious about governance,” he said.
The National Assembly Bureaucracy could not respond to the inquiry yesterday. Also, the Senate spokesman, Yemi Adaramodu, had not picked up calls to his phone as of 5:31 p.m. yesterday when the report was compiled.
