Fighting For Nigeria

WE cannot remember the Senate breaking into a fight over anything, not
even when there were threats to their juicy allowances. The House of
Representatives is more famous for fights, includingthe 2007 one that
claimed the life of Dr. Aminu Safanafrom Katsina State who died as
opponents and proponents of Mrs Patricia Etteh, former Speaker of the
House of Representatives battled over her tenuous tenure.
Two senators almost engaged in blows during adebate on the proposed
State of the Nation Address. The bill is for the President to make an
annual presentation on thestate of the country to the National
Assembly.
Whatever the motives for the law, it holds high hopes that it could
afford Nigerians and the President opportunities to focus on certain
actions in the cause of a year. During the next address, the President
would be expected to review performances from the previous year.
The State of the Nation Address, borrowed from the practice in the
United States of America, could beanother platform for accountability.
The President has refused to assent to it. Some senators support him.
Others think he should sign. Where does a fight come into it?
President Jonathan in a letter to the Senate stated,"I am inclined to
accede tothe Bill subject to the incorporation of some fundamental
amendments proposed to bring the bill in conformity with the dictates
of the Constitution".
Senator Ita Solomon Enang's observation that considering amendments
the President proposed amounted to breaching its own rules, hardly
finished when the rowdy session that resulted in suspension of
proceedings began.
"The question before us is the question of jurisdiction," Enang said.
"It is whether we have power to determine what the President asked;
it is when we answer this that we can proceed. He cannotmake amendment
or propose amendment to any bill. The procedure for making law is
this- our Standing Order requires that when a law is to be made,
first, you publish that bill in the gazette.
From 2003 (when the bill was proposed), there was Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, there have always been
Attorneys-General, there have always been Special Advisers to the
President on National Assembly Affairs. Did any ofthem when this bill
was being considered either in the House of Representatives or in the
Senate, come to the publichearing or the committee handling the bill
for the amendment they have proposed?"
Valid questions he might have asked. Options open to the Senate
include a veto or a trip to the Supreme Court. Either way,senators
should raise their passions for more important issues, yet without
aiming punches at each other.