By Andrew Oota
Senate has thrown out the bill that seeks to legalize constituency projects for lawmakers on grounds that such venture will interfere with the provisions of section 80 of the 1999 constitution as amended which vests the power of appropriations with the legislature .
Titled ” bill for an Act to provide for constituency and other special projects in the annual budget of the federation “,was sponsored by Senator Hussaini Babangida Uba was aborted during it’s second reading on the floor of the Senate Thursday .
The sponsor had told his colleagues in his lead debate that constituency projects are the only ways through which the people rate the performance of people they have elected into the parliament and should be included treated as a constitutional provision.
According to him, the subsisting flat rate used for allocation of funds for the constituency projects for lawmakers should also have periodic upward review to reflect current economic and inflationary data in the country .
In his contribution , deputy Senate President Jubrin Barau said his reason for speaking was to give his perspective as a former chairman of the committee on appropriations in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
” I commend my colleague and a good friend, Senator Babangida Uba Hussaini for bringing this bill. It shows his passion for making sure that we take projects to our various constituencies, which is good. But the fact is this. We operate under our constitution and this constitution is very clear on the role of the National Assembly and this is not just peculiar to our system of government; we have a similar situation in the United States.
” They also have projects that are allowed to take projects to their various zones, constituencies and so forth. But there is no law created outside the constitution because the power of the purse resides within the purview of the legislature.
“Now, what is needed here and which has been done since 2007 is for the president and the legislature to have a compromise. Normally, the appropriation process is full of negotiations and compromises, so what is needed in every appropriation process is negotiation. Yes, we agree we have a certain amount of money that is being provided now, we need more, so we negotiate with the executive and the attitude of leaders is different. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo did not go with us initially but later, he saw reason and he began to soft-pedal on his stance. There was the period of the late President Yar’Adua, he agreed and saw reason and looked at the constitution very well and he understood the fact that the power of the purse resides in the National Assembly and then, a certain amount of money was set aside and from then things have been going smoothly. When we had a problem with former President Buhari, he refused to release the money and the implementation was very poor. However, when the former Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawant was elected and we had this very sound correlation with the executive, we had 100% implementation.
“As we speak, the present President has already approved for release; 100%. Yes, funds have been released, 100%. It depends on the attitude of various presidents. So, I don’t think we need this Act. Already, the power is given to us here. If you want it to be 200 billion, we can go and negotiate with the president and if the funds are available, so be it. Certain improvements have been made and we are doing very well. So, what I think we need to do is to sit down with the executive. Any time we want to make sure that the money is improved upon, we negotiate, not only this, but all aspects of the the budgeting process are based on negotiation, so we have no need for this law”
In his contribution Senator Abdul Ningi who spoke in support of the bill told his colleagues that most of the lawmakers in the first and second assemblies failed to return because there constituencies based there performances on the number of projects they attracted to there communities,hence the need for the proposal which did not get attention under the Olusegun Obssanjo presidency.
Senator Suleiman Kawu who also spoke in similar vein called on senators to ensure that constituency projects are a direct response to the yearnings and aspirations of the people .
But trouble began when senator Victor Umeh came heavy against the bill .
Senator Umeh mainatined that what the Bill seeks to achieve is in direct conflict with the provisions of the constitution defined roles of lawmakers .
According to him,” this is not one of the functions of the legislature and I am sorry to say this , because we only got it through a special arrangement with the executive .
“It was just an understanding but I know this bill will be popular only amongst the lawmakers. We will have a constitutional bottle neck in implementing this law if eventually passed. This Bill will even have problems during public hearings “.
In his remarks Senate President Godswill Akpabio told his colleagues that the constitution provides for separation of powers and it is important that each arm of the government concentrates of its duties , adding that with the powers of appropriations,the National Assembly does not need another law to make provisions for constituency intervention funds.
Immediate past president of the Senate ,Ahmad Lawan averred that it is one thing to pass a law and even have such a law signed into law, but the powers to release the said funds even after appropriations resides with the executive ,hence the need to trade with caution.
The Bill was subsequently withdrawn ,which signifies the termination of its legislative journey .
