Attorney
General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami,
on Thursday met with the leadership of the National Assembly on
developing a working relationship that would ensure seamless passage
of bills.
Malami,
for about an hour at the National Assembly, met with the President of
the Senate, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt.
Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and some principal officers of the Senate.
Malami
told his hosts that the major issue of interest to the Office of the
Attorney General and the Government is having a harmonious working
relationship that is targeted at advancing the interest of the
nation.
He
added that it was against this background that several bills were
proposed during the 8th National Assembly, while additional ones will
be presented during the 9th National Assembly.
Malami
expressed concerns that several bills presented to the eighth
National Assembly were never passed nor assented to because of
certain inadequacies or constitutional issues."
“Enormous
resources, energy and cost have gone into legislative process of
lawmaking, and I feel the time is now right for us to work together
for the purpose of eliminating the associated bottlenecks that have
constituted hindrances to the passage of the bills and assenting
thereto.
“My
beneficial approach is to look at the possibility of working together
between the executive and legislature; and where the need arises, the
judiciary, in working on the bills before they proceed to the stages
of public hearing.
“We
cannot afford to expend resources, time and energy in formulating and
drafting bills that will eventually not be passed or assented,”
Malami said.
Malami
suggested, as a way forward, sending advance legislative proposals
for possible review and inputs of the lawmakers even before the final
consideration of the draft bill by the executive.
In
his response, the Senate President described the meeting as an
"historic engagement" and commended the approach of the
Executive.
Lawan
said the present cordial relationship between the Executive and the
National Assembly should be one driven by mutual respect and
consultation between both arms of government.
“Our
relationship should be based on mutual respect and consultation. This
is a clear demonstration of the kind of consultation we have been
talking about.
“We
shouldn’t work at cross purposes; and beyond bills, we need to
extend the consultation to other spheres of engagements for us to
achieve optimal performance,” Lawan said.
According
to him, the meeting was an important and historic engagement between
the Office of the AGF and the current leadership of the National
Assembly towards achieving a working relationship that would
facilitate the seamless passage of bills and their assent by the
President.
“This
shows the kind of relationship that characterise the ninth National
Assembly and the Executive arm of government, which essentially is
for the benefit of Nigerians, the people we represent,” Lawan
added.
“There
are three major functions of the legislature; the oversight,
representation and legislation.
“Legislation
is a fundamental pillar of what we do here. Your office is in charge
of executive bills that find their way to the National Assembly and
therefore, this is an effort by the executive arm of government to
ensure legislative processes that will start from the executive to
the legislature or vice versa, should be seamless, speedy passage and
effective implementation for good governance.
“When
we process a bill, so much resources, effort and commitment are put
into it; so we have to do everything possible to ensure that the
processes are such that the outcomes justify the enormous resources
put into the processing of the bills.”
To
ensure a hitch-free passage of bills, the leadership of the Senate
and House of Representatives along with the Attorney-General of the
Federation at the meeting underscored the need for committees to be
constituted on both sides of government for the purpose of
engagement.
“If
there’s anything we identify that will cause us not to pass a bill,
we will draw the attention of the executive to it and mandate our
relevant committees to engage with the concerned agency and the AGF’s
office so that all such issues are sorted out.
“We
should have our bills assented to, whether they are executive bills
or private members’ bills.
“This
relationship is productive so far, it is working and helping this
country and we will continue with it. However, that is not to say
that we will compromise on things that are our mandate,” Lawan
said.
The
Senate President also called on the AGF to ensure that heads of
agencies are carried along in the process of drafting executive bills
to avoid sabotage from any quarter.
“I
want to advise, that when an executive bill emanates from you,
exhaust all opportunities for heads of agencies that will be affected
by the eventual passage of the Bill into law to participate.
“Let
them put in their ideas before you roundup work on the draft that
will be sent to the National Assembly for consideration.
“Often
times, heads of agencies deliberately refuse to attend public
hearings, and when the bills are passed and sent to the president to
sign, then they go around saying things about the bill stopping
government from working and so on.
“The
National Assembly would do everything to ensure optimal productivity,
but those civil servants who sometimes feel they would lose power and
authority would attempt to jeopardize the assent of the President.
“This
is something that we have to address. When there’s a public hearing
on a bill, we will make it mandatory for heads of agencies that are
supposed to participate to attend. If they don’t attend, they
shouldn’t go back to the President to advise against the assent to
such bills.
“The
government put in a lot of effort and resources, and we do the same.
But one individual, like a Managing Director or Executive Secretary,
who feels he or she may lose part of his mandate to another agency,
may go ahead to sabotage the whole process. We need to guard against
that.”
Senators
in attendance are: the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi; Deputy
Minority Leader, Ajayi Boroffice; Deputy Chief Whip, Aliyu Sabi
Abdullahi; Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha; Deputy Minority
Whip, Sahabi Ya’u Alhaji; Senator Albert Bassey (PDP, Akwa-Ibom
North), and Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South).
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