Legislative Oversight Functions in Nigeria: A Case Study of Imo State House of Assembly
Thesis
In the modern-day constitutional democracy, (ideal situations) effective and efficient legislative oversight functions ensure executive compliance with legislative intent, improves, efficiency and effectiveness in conduct of public enterprises and economy of government operations, evaluate government programme performance and ensures value for government resources. However, much of these attendant benefits has not been witnessed in the Imo State House of Assembly in recent time. Therefore, this study examines the performance of oversight functions by the Imo State House of Assembly; identified factors influencing the discharge of the oversight mandate by the Committees of the Imo State House of Assembly; and proffered solutions to identified challenges. This study became important as it brought to the fore what obtains at the subnational level in terms of legislative oversight of the executive using Imo State as a case study. It also exposed the peculiar deficiencies in the discharge of the oversight mandate by the Committees. This would also bridge the gap in literature on the importance of plight of state houses of assembly in oversighting executive arm of government in Nigeria. This study adopted the mixed research design, which is a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research designs. The choice of research design is because the study employed the use of a questionnaire as a source of primary data as well as Key Informant Interviews [KII] and the sessional reports of selected committees of the Imo State House of Assembly, Journal articles, Newspapers and Magazines, Textbooks. To address objective 1, information was sourced from existing scholarly articles and documents as well as through primary sources (questionnaires and KII). While there was an interplay of secondary and primary data in addressing objective 2. The study also adopted the quantitative and qualitative analytical frameworks to examine the performance of oversight functions by the Imo State House of Assembly. In addressing objective one, this study found that although the Imo State House of Assembly has succeeded in exerting its oversight powers in oversighting state MDAs, its dependence on the executive arm for funding has limited its effectiveness. For objective two, the study found that factors such as insufficient cooperation from the state MDAs; inadequate resources (material and financial); corruption and personal interests of the Legislators; capacity- deficiency as being major clogs in the wheel of effective performance of legislative oversight functions in Imo State. The study recommended among others provision of adequate resources for the State Legislature by Government; capacity development programmes for Legislators and their aides through partnership with capacity development institutions such as National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILDS); improved cooperation between Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government through regular retreats; adoption of self-accountability measure such as performance appraisals for the members of the Committee; and enforcement of the implementation of oversight recommendations through necessary legal instruments. State houses of assembly, like the Imo State Assembly is constitutionally empowered to oversight Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government within the various states. Thus, Imo State House of Assembly is no exception and has performed its oversight duties averagely despite the avalanche of challenges faced in the discharge of the functions. This study is a modest attempt to expose what obtains in states in terms of legislative oversight of the executive and the challenges undermining its effectiveness.