A House of under-performing representatives

Less than 26 percent of the 360 members of the Nigerian House of Representatives have sponsored at least one bill since June 5, 2007, when the House was inaugurated, a recently released mid-term report of the House has shown. Altogether, the federal lawmakers sponsored 221 bills in the last two years, with contributions from just 93 members.

The 41-page report, prepared by the committee on Rules and Business, also shows that 271 bills were introduced into the House during the same period. Of this number, 50 were passed into law. About 46 of the bills were executive bills and four others came from the Senate for concurrence.

House Leader, Tunde Akogun and Mayor Eze (PDP, Imo) lead the pack of bills sponsors, with eight bills each. Herman Hembe (PDP, Benue) and John Halims Agoda (PDP, Delta) come next with seven bills each. Kayode Amusan (PDP, Ogun), Uzoma Nkem-Abonta (PDP, Abia) and Fancy Arole (AC, Lagos) sponsored six bills each. Henry Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa), Oluwole Oke (PDP, Osun), Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Etim Bassey sponsored five bills each.

Four bills each came from Darlington Okeke, Nkiruka Onjejiocha, Gbenga Makanjuola, Lanre Agoro, Samson Osagie, Cyril Maduabum, while three each were sponsored by Akinderu Fatai, Attai Aidoko, Femi Gbajabiamila and Abike Dabiri-Erewa. The remaining lawmakers brought one or two bills each. Speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole and his predecessor, Patricia Etteh have only one bill each credited to them. Mr. Bankole's deputy, Usman Bayero Nafada did not sponsor any bill. The bill sponsored by Mr. Bankole is titled "National Office of Government Performance, Auditor and Accountability Bill, 2008", which is currently awaiting second reading.

Mrs. Etteh's bill was "Maternal New Born and Child Welfare Health Services Bill, 2007". It is yet to be reported out of committee to which it was committed. Some of the bills already passed were forwarded to President Umaru Yar'Adua for his assent; while the others are either in the Senate for concurrence or at various stages of legislation in the lower chamber. However, nine others have been concluded in the Committee of Whole but do not have clean copies yet.

A lot of motion

The Representatives appear to have done better in the area of motions. A total of 84 members brought motions between June 2007 and June 2009. Interestingly, some of those who sponsored bills also registered their names in this area.

However, Minority Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume from Borno State comes top with nine motions. Dino Melaye (PDP, Kogi) has eight; Mr. Agoda 7; Festus Adegoke 4; and Gbenga Oduwaiye 3. Mr. Enang, Patrick Obahiagbon, Mohammed Sani Abdu, John Eno, Samson Osagie, Fancy Arole, Friday Itulah, Aliyu Wadada, abdullahi Farouk, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Farouk Lawan, Patrick Ikhariale have two motions to their credit. About 58 others sponsored one motion each.

This means that the remaining members are merely collecting huge salaries and allowances for doing nothing. Each member of the House, according to the current pay package prepared by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission takes home ₦1,985,212.50 and ₦29,280,684.22 as allowances annually.

The allowances include accommodation, vehicle loan, furniture, ward robe, vehicle maintenance, entertainment, recess, constituency, personal assistant, domestic staff, utility, severance, newspaper and house maintenance. Each member is also entitled to ₦21,000 duty tour allowance and $550 estacode per night.

Mr. Bankole and Mr. Nafada are on an annual basic salary of ₦2,477,110.00 and ₦2,287,034.25 respectively. Allowances for both the Speaker and the deputy are ₦9,784,384.00 and ₦8,004,280.00. These figures are from recess, constituency, and severance allowances alone as the state provides for the rest. The Speaker is entitled to a duty tour allowance of ₦35,000 and estacode of $1,000 per night while the deputy speaker takes ₦30,000 and $750.

The salaries and allowances are being reviewed by RMAFC as directed by Mr. Yar'Adua.

However, there are also reports that the lawmakers get illegal allowances in the region of ₦35 million each, quarterly.

The lawmakers also maintained legislative aides who are hired to help them carry out their duties. Each of them is entitled to five aides. The sum of ₦4.3 billion was initially appropriated for these aides in 2009 Budget but was raised by the lawmakers to ₦4.7 billion while working on the budget. It was learnt that some of the lawmakers pocket most of the funds meant for the aides while a few others employ less than five.

Poor performance

On several occasions, Mr. Bankole had warned members to get serious with their work. In February this year, the Speaker lashed out at the members over their poor performance. Twice in May last year, he also expressed regrets over the poor attitude of the members to work following the level of their absence from sittings. He warned that performance would henceforth determine their placement in the standing committees.

Statistics coming from the register, which members sign before they go in for plenary session, show that three of them were habitual absentees during the period.

Adiche Uche of the Centre for Democratic Success said it was not surprising that only about 30 percent of the members sponsored bill in the last two years. He said most of them did not prepare for the task, having been fraudulently elected.

"I am not surprised, considering the manner many of them were elected into the House," he said. "You know as well as I do that some, definitely not all I must say, are here for what they will put in their pockets and they don't care if Nigerians and Nigeria suffer for this."

Mr. Uche said that the remaining two years would be worse than the previous years because of the lawmakers' desperation to get re-elected. "Where will they have the time to settle down to work on bills when they are running around to work for their return?" he asked.

Igo Aguma (PDP, Rivers State), said the high turn-over of parliamentarians affect its productivity. Speaking on the recent celebration of the 10th anniversary of unbroken democracy in the country, Mr. Aguma said the best brains always leave the House at the end of every session.

"The turn-over of members is not only limited to PDP," he said. "All other parties have the same problem. People are used as a tool."

But House spokesman, Eseme Eyiboh, said the years ahead will be brighter, adding, however, that it is wrong to assess the House based on the quantity of the bills passed. He insisted that the House should be judged based on the quality or contents of the bills.

"It is not the ratio of the sponsorship. Legislative business is a collaborative thing," he said. "So, if you look at the ratio, you may not be able to get it right."

Mr. Eyiboh said the British House of Commons, which is the oldest legislature in the world, only passed four bills last year.

Mr. Enang, who is the Chairman of the House committee on Rules and Business, said whichever way the House is assessed, it did well. According to him, every member does not need to sponsor bills.

"We have done excellently well, given the number of bills, given the number of motions we have and oversight functions we carried out. It is not compulsory for everybody to sponsor bills," he said

He noted that his colleagues are working at the committee level to give Nigerians the best.

Spokesman of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, Osita Okechukwu, said although the number of people who sponsor bills in a parliament is not a drawback, the lawmakers are yet to make laws that would impact on the lives of the people.

"Passing executive bills is not the issue, because both the executive and legislator work together. Edmund Burke said the representation should be adjudged with how best it serves the common interest," he said.

League of sponsors

Tunde Akogun, Mayor Eze - eight bills each.

Herman Hembe, John Halims Agoda - seven bills each.

Kayode Amusan, Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, Fancy Arole - six bills each.

Henry Dickson, Oluwole Oke, Ita Enang, Etim Bassey - five bills each.

Darlington Okeke, Nkiruka Onjejiocha, Gbenga Makanjuola, Lanre Agoro, Samson Osagie, Cyril Maduabum - four bills each.

Akinderu Fatai, Attai Aidoko, Femi Gbajabiamila and Abike Dabiri-Erewa - three bills each.