BusinessDay 22 May 2018

Tuesday 22 May 2018
10 BUSINESS DAY
C002D5556
COMMENT
MAZI SAM OHUABUNWA OFR
sam@starteamconsult.com
Since the proclamation of the
8th Assembly, I have noticed
a consistent effort to emasculate
the National Assembly,
particularly the Senate. First
effort was the challenge to the power of
the Senate to confirm certain executive
appointments. Both the constitution
and other extant laws gave powers to
the Senate to approve, confirm or ratify
certain appointments by the President.
But we have seen some effort to deny
this power of the Senate. The classical
and subsisting case is the refusal of
President Muhammadu Buhari to replace
Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman
of EFCC after the Senate rejected his
nomination twice due to adverse reports
from a sister security agency-DSS. Three
years down the line, the President has
ignored the Senate and has kept Magu
on the job, effectively rendering the Senate
irrelevant and impotent.
Second, there has been an effort to
deny the National Assembly the power
to appropriate. The executive along
with its cronies like Prof Itse Sagay have
insisted that the National Assembly’s
power is only limited to rubber stamping
the budget submitted to it by the
executive. It cannot add or remove. That
argument almost stopped the signing of
the 2017 Budget as the executive stubbornly
stuck to its gun .In fact, perhaps
encouraged by this erroneous view,
President Buhari paid 496 million US
comment is free
Send 800word comments to comment@businessdayonline.com
Lame duck Senate & the advance of autocracy
Dollars to the United States of America
for the purchase of Tucano aircrafts
without the approval of the National
Assembly. This decidedly unconstitutional
action was carried out brazenly.
Nigerians were alarmed. The National
Assembly was scandalized.
Some Senators stated that the
President should be called to order for
this breach. There were suggestions on
the need to proceed on impeachment
notice to the President. The executive
felt incensed and took very unusual
steps to humiliate the Senate and the
Senators who raised the issue of the
constitutional infringement. Senator
Mathew Urhoghide was attacked by
sponsored thugs at Benin Airport for
daring to ask that the constitutional
provisions for spending the nation’s
money without legislative approval
be invoked. While individual senators
were being targeted for punishment,
a decision was taken to completely
humiliate the Senate. A team of thugs
was commissioned to spit on the faces
of all the senators. They walked majestically
into the chambers, took the
mace, walked out from the chambers
and drove away through the Aso Rock
Villa gate of the National Assembly into
safety. And that ended the entire story
about constitutional infringement
or impeachment. Emasculation and
humiliation in double dose!
Third, the power of the Senate to
summon public officers to the senate
has been variously challenged
and it looks like the executive has
succeeded in removing that power
completely. Custom CG Hameed Ali
was summoned severally, he refused
to come, but showed up once or so
and when he was requested to come
dressed in his official uniform, he flatly
refused to return to the Senate, and as
we write, more than a year after, the
guy continues to run the Customs,
completely ignoring the senate and
nothing has happened to him and
...it must be said that the
National Assembly is such a
critical democratic institution
that any attempt to erode its
power and influence is an
attempt to diminish democracy
and promote autocracy or
dictatorship
nothing may ever happen to him, given
the apparent impotence of the Senate.
The Senate invited Prof Itse Sagay and
this law professor said he would not
honour the invitation and he did not and
nothing has happened as this senate has
become completely powerless.
It is therefore not such a great surprise
that they have invited IGP Ibrahim
Idris to the Senate three times to come
and discuss the rapidly deteriorating
security situation in Nigeria. Three times,
Idris ignored the Senate, sending a deputy
instead. I was really miffed by his third
refusal, because two days before this, the
leaders of the National Assembly had met
with the President during which they
complained about Idris’s intransigence.
Thinking that it was a fence-mending
meeting where the President appealed
to them to get the 2018 passage passed, I
had hoped that he would reciprocate by
ordering Idris to honour the invitation.
As it turned out, the President may never
have talked to Idris or Idris may have ignored
the President’s directive as he was
wont to doing. For me this was the height
of humiliation for the Senate. What did
the senate do in response? Issue a lame
statement saying Idris was an enemy of
democracy and was not fit to hold public
office in Nigeria. What does that come
to? Idris is holding a critical public office
right now as IGP. What would have
happened to these apparently subdued
senators if they had mustered the courage
to ask the President to remove Idris
as IGP as a minimum. By this lame
lamentation, it is clear that this Senate
is completely emasculated and has
become a lame duck.
The lameness of this Senate got
me almost shedding tears last week,
when I saw the senate President sitting
on the senate floor, yielding the
Chair to his deputy as his complaint
about a plot by the police to link him
and the kwara State Governor to some
incident of murder in Kwara State was
being discussed. I felt sorry for him,
the No 3 citizen of the country lamenting
like a powerless baby. But tears
actually rolled into my eyes, when
one senator who was contributing
to the debate on Saraki’s complaint,
described how his police escort team
was unceremoniously withdrawn in
the middle of the night in Jos, as a
reprisal for his criticizing IGP Idris
for his repeated refusal to honour the
Senate’s invitation. I cried, not for the
Senator, nor for the Senate President.
I cried for Nigeria.
The question must then be asked, in
whose interest is this deliberate effort to
make the Nigerian Senate and by extension,
the National Assembly impotent?
For me, it is certainly not in the interest
of democracy. The National Assembly
is the essential governance institution
that differentiates civilian democracy
from military rule. It is set up to check
executive recklessness and prevent the
country from becoming a dictatorship.
In Nigeria’s long history of military
rule, it was always the independent
legislature that was missing as both
the executive and judiciary remained
in operation, even if in some distorted
forms. Yes, some Nigerians do have issues
with the legislature- high pay, low
productivity etc or with specific legislators
for poor representation & sundry
misdeamanours but it must be said that
the National Assembly is such a critical
democratic institution that any attempt
to erode its power and influence is an
attempt to diminish democracy and
promote autocracy or dictatorship.
When an executive wants to begin to
spend money without seeking legislative
appropriation or appoint people to
offices without any senate clearance or
borrow money externally without any
legislative endorsement, then we are on
the road to impunity and dictatorship. I
do not see how this can be in the interest
of the ordinary Nigerian, because if it
were, Nigerians would not have given
their lives to return their nation from
military rule to democracy.
I know for sure that part of the reason
for the onslaught on the National
Assembly, particularly on the Senate
is that the current leadership emerged
against the wishes of the ruling party-
APC. And that’s why the executive has
done everything possible to remove
Saraki from office and to humiliate
his supporters. Everybody knows
why Senator Melaye is being dragged
through the streets of Abuja and being
taken to court in a stretcher- vengeance.
But should an arm of government
go out or allow another arm to be
humiliated or destroyed just to get even
with one or two members of that arm?
Should we allow the baby to be thrown
away with the supposedly dirty water?
Must we destroy Nigeria’s hard-earned
democracy to satisfy the ego of a few
‘gods’? But in all these, our politicians
must learn the lessons that what goes
round, comes round; that no condition
is permanent and that whatever one
sows, that he will also reap. But for the
peace of Nigeria and the sustainability
of our democracy, this siege on the National
Assembly, particularly the Senate
must be lifted now. And the Senate
must wake up to assert its power with
courage and check the emerging drift
to dictatorship.
Send reactions to:
comment@businessdayonline.com
STRATEGY & POLICY
MA JOHNSON
Johnson is a marine project management
consultant and Chartered Engineer. He is
a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering,
Science and Technology, UK.
On April 30, 2018, President
Muhammadu Buhari (PMB)
of Nigeria made history as
the first African president to
meet with United States of America’s
President Donald J. Trump in Washington.
Highlights of agreements reached
during the visit include cooperation and
collaboration between the two countries
on security in which the USA confirmed
the sale of twelve Super Tucano jets,
including other military software and
hardware required in the continued
fight against terrorism in Nigeria. Nigeria
however, lost the American market for
sale of its crude oil. While the USA got a
deal to sell agricultural produce to Nigeria.
Nigeria is to create a level playing ground
through removal of trade barrier while the
USA under the principle of reciprocity is
to provide aid to the tune of US$1 billion
to Nigeria. Simply put, products from the
Buhari’s visit to Trump: A missed opportunity?
USA can come into Nigeria unhindered
for an aid of only US$ 1 billion. In what
form will the aid come into Nigeria and
how will Nigeria pay back? Overall, some
Nigerians say that PMB’s visit to the
USA is not worth celebrating. But PMB
got aid, food and sophisticated military
equipment. So Buhari’s visit to Trump
wasn’t a missed opportunity particularly
to those in the government.
If we are sincere to ourselves, we
should not forget that in world affairs, it
is known that Nigeria is a less developed,
conflict-infested and raw material supplying
country. The USA, on the other
hand, is a developed and industrialized
country. So, one would have expected
the bilateral relationship between the
two countries to be of more strategic
importance to Nigeria than the USA. It
would have been worthwhile if Nigeria
designed its relations with the USA or
any nation for that matter as a vehicle to
systematically accomplish its economic
and democratic development. Unfortunately,
Nigeria’s history of failed efforts to
develop as a nation since independence
on 1 October 1960 is of grave concern.
Currently, Nigeria faces several domestic
challenges in security, economic
and political spheres. Despite these
challenges one may argue that Nigeria is
still the “giant of Africa” bearing in mind
its population, oil wealth, and political
influence in the region. Some say that
Nigeria’s domestic stability is poor with
high unemployment and underemploy-
ment rates, and thus, it has lost its status as
the “giant of Africa.”Whatever position is
taken, Nigeria is expected to put its house
in order by ensuring that the fight against
terrorism, corruption and impunity is progressing
rapidly in the positive direction at
state and federal levels.
This writer is of the view that it would
have been in the interest of the USA that
Nigeria, the most populous black nation in
the world, become truly an economic giant
and a democratically vibrant nation. When
Nigeria assumes this hegemonic position,
it would serve as a reference for regional
security, stability and growth. It would have
equally, been a thing of joy for Nigeria to
maintain a strong and mutually beneficial
bilateral relations with the world’s most
powerful economy and democracy.
So what is PMB’s trade policy towards
the USA? Honestly, this writer does not
know. What then is Trump’s Africa trade
policy? Africa’s trade not a priority for
Trump because of his “America first” policy.
It is only African countries with stable polity
and good governance, economic prosperity,
technological advancement, moral
authority as well as visionary leadership
that may find it easier to influence Trump’s
decisions in a bilateral relationship with
the USA.
So is the USA willing to trade with
Nigeria? Yes, but certain conditions must
be fulfilled. Those conditions are spelt out
in the African Growth and Opportunity
Act (AGOA). This is a USA trade legislation
seeking to open markets to African exports
particularly fabrics, fashion and agricultural
products duty free. Under the AGOA,
Sub-Saharan African countries will take
part with some technical assistance and
support provided by the USA so that they
can fully realize the gains of the Act.
Sub-Saharan African countries will
be eligible when they must have “shown
progress made towards a market-based
economy through removal of subsidies,
price controls and privatization, respect
for the rule of law, embracing general
democratic principles, human and workers’
rights issues, and set a minimum age
for child labour.” Such countries must also
show progress in such areas as “elimination
of barriers to US trade and investment;
protection of intellectual property;
efforts to combat corruption; policies
to reduce poverty, increase availability
of health care and educational opportunities.”
Also, to be eligible, beneficiary
countries should ensure that US national
security and foreign policy interests are
not undermined.
The above stated conditionality can
hardly be met by most African countries.
For instance, Nigeria is not a marketbased
economy as oil, education, health,
and agriculture sectors amongst others
are still enjoying subsidy. Overtime, most
government officials (appointed and
elected) have demonstrated contempt
for the rule of law. Due process is not
followed most times before withdrawing
funds from either the federation account
or excess crude accounts by the executive
arm of government. Political parties lack
internal party democracy which is a disease
to sustainable democracy as seen in
the recently concluded ward congresses
of the All Progressive Congress in a few
states. Transparency and accountability
are not common features of government
institutions while child labour still exists
in Nigeria. These are teething problems
that Nigeria needs to address before
earning respect from other countries in
the international community.
Trump takes AGOA’s eligibility requirements
seriously. He has suspended
the deal with Rwanda after finding
that the country “unfairly” blocked US
exports of used clothing while keeping
that of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania as
they promised to reduce or eliminate
import barriers. Nigeria’s domestic
challenges are numerous but they can
be overcome. Perhaps, this is the time
for Nigeria to reconsider its stance on
the African Continental Free Trade Area
(AfCFTA) if it plans to export locally
manufactured goods and agricultural
products. Regional integration is critical
to accelerating growth on the African
Continent. The best way Nigeria can
prove to the USA and the rest of the world
that it can be a reliable global player is to
show capacity to establish good governance,
prevent corruption and promote
human rights at home.
Send reactions to:
comment@businessdayonline.