The Legislature and Legislative Practices in Anambra State: Scorecard of Performance of Anambra State House of Assembly 2003 - 2015

Abstract

This paper tries to establish the state of functionality of Anambra State House of Assembly as a Legislative organ of government in the State. Its assessment is based on the common practices of the legislature, isolating the two functional responsibilities of law making and oversight. It anchors its analysis, with the aid of „General Role Theory‟, on data from parliamentary activities (Bills and oversight reports) of Anambra State House of Assembly (2003–2015) generated from the House. The paper find that there was dominance of the position of the executive on the activities of the House, and that the record of bills (presented, passed or not passed) had little to show inputs from the constituents, civil society groups and professional bodies. It was also found that the legislative processes were constantly perverted to satisfy the demands of the executive. The paper further finds that the oversight functions were made rather „routinistic‟, using only the Standing Committees of the House and does not appear to have made reasonable positive impact on the governance. The paper therefore recommends, among others, that there is a need for more public participation in the affairs of the House. Therefore, members of the civil society and civil society organisations need to take more definite steps (through seeking and making information available) to press for more and deeper legislative processes and oversight duties by the State House of Assembly