Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Alhassan Doguwa has observed that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was responsible for the incidences of rubber stamp by National Assembly.
Doguwa who explained that the constitutional provisions for the oversight functions by the National Assembly and other activities made the legislature susceptible to rubber stamp actions, however said the National Assembly only rubber stamp on issues that seek to actualize the aspirations of Nigerians.
The House Leader gave this indication during an interface with journalists covering the House in Abuja where he also disclosed that the 9th National Assembly would revisit the electoral act amendment bill which President Muhammadu had declined assent to.
“Sometimes I believe that those who drafted the constitution, if you go through the constitution and the workings of the National Assembly and the executive arm of government, the moral intent was to make the National Assembly a rubber stamp. Rubber stamp in the sense that we rubber stamp when such things are in tandem with aspirations of the Nigerian people. I think that is what the rubber stamp does.
“The concept of the constitution that makes the National Assembly to oversight and superintend the activities of the executive especially in the implementation of policies and programmes, the budgeting and what have you. The intent was a good one and it was meant for the National Assembly to rubber stamp what is in the interest of the country.
“This 9th Assembly will look at the laws, especially the electoral act where we have a lot of contradictions. This House will take it very seriously to look at some of these issues”, he stated
While calling on the media to support the 9th Assembly in the achievement of its legislative agenda, Doguwa said, ” there is this very long standing problem we have about the institution of the National Assembly.
“This is one very wrong perception that we members or stakeholders in the institution can not clear it ourselves and we will expect that role to be played by you people (press). You are operating in between the public and various institutions of government and you are here. We also consider you ambassadors of this great institutions out there on the street.
“We urge you to always present the National Assembly in the best possible light. Where issues contain misunderstanding, misperception, ignorance and sometimes blackmail, we expect the press to help us play this role by really putting everything in perspective. Sometimes we talk about issues of even our allowances and the budget we have here in the National Assembly.
“When you talk of N 110 billion budget for the National Assembly most Nigerians think this N 110 billion is to be shared among the 360 Members in the House and 109 in the Senate which actually is not the case. The way we operate our finances here is very much known to you and we hope you will make known even to members of the public. That would go a long way to disabuse blackmails and possible mischief among the Nigerian public.
“Democracy can only work when every component of the democratic system work in tandem with the other organs of government or other institutions of democracy. I look at the fourth estate of the realm, the press as an inseparable arm of government. When you have three arms of government, it is like you left out one significant arm of government that is charged with that moral responsibility to cooperate, synergize and work in tandem with the operations and policies of government so that at the end, government will succeed.
“So in my view, you have even a greater role to play because government is the business that is been done for the benefit of the people and when business is being done for the people and if they are not well informed, then we have a problem. The 9th Assembly have a lot to expect from you in terms of disabusing the minds of Nigerians to make sure that the perspective in which the National Assembly is put is always apt and appropriate because we can not go on the streets and speak for ourselves”.
