Constituency Office and Effective Legislative Representation in Abakaliki/Izzi Federal Constituency

Abstract

Broadly, this study assessed the influence of constituency office management in ensuring effective legislative representation in Abakaliki/Izzi Federal Constituency. The work inquired on the extent of utilization of constituency office by elected representative and their constituents to deepen legislative representation, thereby providing resources for academic research and filled the void occasioned by dearth of literature on constituency offices, precisely in Abakaliki/Izzi Federal Constituency, Ebonyi State. Accordingly, the specific objectives were to: examine the effect of constituency office on the well-being of the constituents of Abakaliki/Izzi Federal Constituency, examine the mechanism through which interactions exist between the constituents and their elected representatives, examine the factors influencing the performance of the Abakaliki/Izzi Federal Constituency office, and identify lessons that would assist in improving the relationship between the constituents and their elected representatives. The study adopted the mixed research design using quantitative and qualitative data. Data were taken from primary (questionnaires) and secondary (official publications of the National Assembly and government journals, articles, magazines, and the internet, among others) sources. Content analysis and descriptive statistics were used for the analysis of data. As a result, a simple percentage was used for the analysis of quantitative data while the content analysis was adopted for the analysis of qualitative data. Data were presented in themes, charts, and tables. Objective one found that there exists a Constituency office for Abakaliki/Izzi Federal Constituency located at Ogoja Road by Rice mill junction (scan filling station). The Constituency office serves as the link through which the electorates channel their requests to their elected representatives. Therefore, objective two showed that constituents reach their elected representatives through the use of phone calls, Email, Social Media, Radio/TV Phone-in Programs, and so on. Following, objective three revealed that constituency office has impacted constituents positively as it provided platforms where money/gift item are distributed to constituents, helps to secure jobs for unemployed constituents, serves as a platform for awarding scholarships, among others. Although lack of professional staff, standard operating procedure, training of constituency office staff, among others, were found to be the factors affecting the performance of constituency office. Overall, objective four recommended the training and retraining of constituency office staff, strategic collaboration with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), transparency in the management of constituency office, etcetera, as lessons that can be applied for the effective management of constituency office in the future.