Daily Independent (Lagos)
Adetutu Folasade-Koyi
18 November 2008
Long before Senators headed to Kano, there was a jostle among the 19 northern states for the hosting of the fourth annual retreat.
While the jostling was going on, perhaps, in the spirit of Government of National Unity (GNU), they decided to hold the event in a state controlled by the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
Hitherto, the past three retreats had been held in states controlled by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The serious contenders were Borno and Kano states. But while Maiduguri was seriously considered because the governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, was a former colleague, senators chose the nearby ancient city of Kano for reasons not clearly defined yet.
However, uncorroborated hints indicate that the choice of Kano, might not be unconnected with the touted desire and indeed pressure by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to get the state Governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, and other ANPP governors as well to into its fold.
And so, to Kano senators headed on November 10, for a retreat largely aimed at improving legislative capacity and engendering sustainable development in Nigeria.
While President Umaru Yar'Adua was billed to open the event, Managing Director of Oceanic Bank Plc, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, and Presidential candidate of African Democratic Party (ADC) and Director General, Lagos Business School, Prof. Pat were scheduled to present papers with special emphasis on the global financial crisis and its impact on the Nigerian economy.
Chairman of the Retreat Planning Committee, Deputy Minority Whip, Kabiru Gaya, former Governor of Kano State, had set the tune for the exercise with the theme Legislature and Sustainable Development in Nigeria. He noted that the break from legislative duties would provide an opportunity for the senators to take stock of achievements made so far, and particularly afford them the previlege of assessing the impact of the environmental problem of desertification in the northern states.
To enable them familiarise themselves with the problems, they were expected to tour core states in the North-West geo-political zone, including Sokoto, Jigawa and Kaduna states in three separate groups.
Papers would be presented on such topics as: Desertification, Climate Change and the Challenge of Poverty,' by Prof. E.U. Essiet of the Bayero University, Kano; Ensuring Food Security in Nigeria: Boosting the Capacity for Irrigated Farming,' by Prof. Ango Abdullahi, Special Adviser on Food Security to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Former colleagues incorporated as resource persons included former Appropriation and Finance Committee Chairman in the fifth Senate, Senator John Azuta Mbata.
He was invited to present paper on: The Legislature and the Budget process in Nigeria: Appraisal of Roles and Outcomes; while An Appraisal of the Oversight Function of the National Assembly, would be taken by the former House of Representatives Speaker, Umar Ghali Na'Abba, Senators Udoma Udo Udoma and Jonathan Zwingina.
Other topics included Constitutional Powers of the Legislature and the Executive-Legislature Inter-relationships; Performance- based Budgeting and Budgeting to Bridge the Infrastructure Gap; and Building Mega Cities through Infrastructural Development.
Setting the ball rolling, Yar'Adua urged the Senate to speed up electoral reforms by amending relevant laws, against the backdrop of pending litigations over the 2007 elections.
The President expressed concern that while the Electoral Act, which guides elections in the country, specified the timeframe to such file petitions in court, it was silent on for litigations .
Represented by his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, the President, who spoke on the theme: The Legislature and Sustainable Development in Nigeria, Yar'Adua urged the lawmakers to consider constitutional solutions to national problems in a proposed amendment of the 1999 Constitution.
"This Senate Retreat is, therefore, timely especially bearing in mind the need to urgently reform our electoral system as the foundation of democracy and good governance. I am not aware of any other country, for example, where litigations arising from elections drag on for years after presumed winners have been sworn in. The distractions that these cause for smooth governance and delivery of the dividends of democracy are better imagined. While the Electoral Law puts a firm ceiling on the period within which, electoral petitions must be filed, the same law does not put a similar ceiling on when such cases must be concluded.
"It is reasonable to expect that such litigations should be concluded before elected officials are inaugurated. I, therefore, invite this distinguished Senate to, as a matter of priority and urgency, take critical look at the relevant laws in order to amend them accordingly," he said.
The President, apparently alluding to the perceived schism between the Presidency and NASS over the 2008 budget, canvassed a mutual, smooth constitutional relationship between the Executive and the National Assembly, adding that constant consultations between the two arms of government would reduce tension in the polity.
His words: "This well thought-out theme is apt because it implies many relevant issues such as:
. a critical re-examination of the constitutional roles and responsibilities of the Legislature in national development;
. a critical re-definition of legislative functions and responsibilities in national development - from the budgetary process to project implementation and monitoring;
. a fundamental need for the Executive and the Legislature to jointly whittle down to the barest minimum, areas of disagreement between them, in order to avoid waste of invaluable time and thus smoothen budget implementation process in particular and good governance in general.
"Executive relations call for the continuation of consultation amongst us. The two arms can, through consultations, resolve areas of tension and stress in matters such as budgeting so that, proposals from the Executive that do not meet the approval of the Legislature may not be unilaterally expunged without consultation with the Executive that proposed such.
"In this way, we can meet our goals and achieve our vision faster. The goals we have set for ourselves as a nation, in terms of the Seven-point Agenda and Vision 2020, are enormous tasks indeed. We are, therefore, duty-bound to remove all technical and institutional impediments to national development."
Senate President, David Mark, the convener, also explained the reason for moving the event out of Abuja, reiterating that the upper legislative chamber moved it to Kano so as to better understand environmental problems confronting the country. "Whereas in the South South, we had the opportunity of visiting the creeks to avail ourselves of the natural setting of the Niger Delta, and then environmental problems that are faced by the people of that geo-political zone, this time around senators will be exposed to the deforested and desert parts of the North; the need to maximise irrigation, the weather and ecological problems and the various challenges that abound and beg for appropriate legislative and budgetary attention."
In response to the president's call for a mutual relationship between the two arms of government, Mark assured that his constituency would not fail on its part. "This synergy between the Executive and the Legislature is a most welcome development in our checkered political history, particularly at this point in time when all hands are expected to be on deck to see to the actualisation of the Seven-point agenda as well as the Vision 2020 of the present administration," Mark said.
Response To World Financial Crisis
Although the private banking sector did not make it to the retreat, government seized the opportunity to brief the Senate about its plans for 2009.
Conscious of the global financial crisis and the need to be a step ahead of any development in the nation's financial sector vis-a-vis its role as the eyes and ears of the people, Director-General of the Budget Office, Bright Okogu, informed the senators on the Executive's financial and economic plans for next year.
Speaking on Performance-based Budgeting and Budgeting to Bridge the Infrastructure Gap, Okogu disclosed that out of the 2009 appropriation proposals, with 91 per cent allocated to capital budget, 46 per cent would be spent on investments on critical infrastructural development.
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