Assessment of the Committee System and Legislative Functions of the 8th Senate of the Nigeria National Assembly

Abstract

The study assessed the Committee System and Legislative Functions of the Senate in the 8th of the Nigeria National Assembly (2015-2019). The objectives were: to assess the roles of the Senate Committees in the 8th National Assembly; to determine the extent to which the 8th Senate used the committee system; to identify the challenges impeding the performance of the Senate committees in carrying out legislative functions of the National Assembly; and to recommend ways the Senate can use the committee system more effectively. The study adopted mixed methods: qualitative and quantitative research techniques to address the questions and objectives it intended to unravel. The population of the study was 697 staff members of Senate Committees. Data were collected from primary sources using the questionnaire, personal observation and secondary data obtained from the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, books, journals and the Internet. Explicit, qualitative and quantitative data were used for objectives one to three while only qualitative data was used for objective four. The quantitative data were presented in Charts while qualitative data were described in prose. The study found that committees in the 8th National Assembly conducted public hearings in respect of Bills and Motions, attended to petitions, screened nominees and conducted oversight functions, with positive impactful results on good governance. In fact, the 8th Senate passed a total of 172 Bills some of which drew high media attention for the pertinent issues they addressed and the overall high perception of their potential impacts on society. Further findings revealed that the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions was particularly very active; the Committee concluded 139 petitions and laid 126 reports which were all considered. Findings further revealed that the Committee System was a beehive of activities as a record number of Bills were passed surpassing that of the previous Assemblies. Objective three revealed that though the Senate Committee System has a large number of senior officers with higher educational qualifications indicating that the Committee Secretariats is a vibrant one which can offer quality services, however, irregular professional training and lack of adequate funding were nagging factors that militated against the effectiveness of the Senate Committees of the 8th Assembly. Findings on objective four revealed that a high number of respondents solicits for more support from civil societies, more relevant training and re-training and more funding to carry out committee assignments. The study recommended that in respect to findings on objective one and two, despite the high number of Bills passed by the 8th Senate, it could still do better where a clearer mandate is given and necessary sanctions are prescribed for inability to deliver within the required timeframe. It is also recommended as regards objective three that regular legislative training be conducted for the leadership, membership and committee secretariat. The study concluded that there is a need to pay great attention to the composition of committees and take deliberate interest in their challenges to deal with them for greater efficiency.