“In 2021, Governor Obiano signed the Judiciary financial autonomy bill into law, yet the House cannot recruit its own staff” —Ebuka Onyekwelu
The Anambra State House of Assembly Complex has remained closed, following strike action by parliamentary staff, under the aegis of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria – PASAN, over the non-implementation of the Assembly autonomy, by the state government. It is worthy of note that section 121 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended in the fifth alteration, specifically spelled out the financial autonomy of the House of Assembly and other arms of the government, in which instance is the Judiciary and the Executive. In many states of Nigeria however, there are deliberate efforts by state governors to stop the autonomy of the legislature.
A similar fate has befallen Nigerian local governments across the federation much so that local governments are now mostly an extension of the state government’s administrative organs, rather than a different tier of government. Worst still, in Anambra State, there has not been a local government election for about a decade now. What this means is that Anambra now has a generation of school-leavers who have only heard of local government election in their ‘civic education’ or ‘government’ class in school, but have never witnessed it.
Aside from the uncertainty of the constitution on the status of the local government, there are basically two major reasons why state governors do not conduct local government elections; one is political and the other is financial. The first reason is that state governors conveniently convert and hijack local government allocations from the Joint Account, for use at will. The second reason is the fear by governors that a properly functional local government with an elected pragmatic and effective chairman can easily become a problem for the governor. For instance, one may wish to imagine what a local government chairman in Anambra State who gets N100 million or more as monthly allocation from the Federal Government can do if he is prepared for the job. It is, therefore, not very difficult to see why many states are not willing to effect the clear provision of the country’s constitution on legislative autonomy. In perspective, what legislative autonomy means is that House of Assembly members can no longer be unduly influenced by state governors. If the members say “no” to the governor on anything, it will be of absolutely no consequence on their rights and privileges as House members. Many state governors are not comfortable with this arrangement.
To be able to achieve autonomy for the legislature, proper structures have to be put in place. The legislature should be able to hire and fire its own staff. The legislature should also be able to determine its own fate in every sense of it. Therefore, this implies that there has to be a Commission of the legislature to take care of the affairs of the Assembly. There is also a need for financial autonomy. To buttress, the Anambra State Judiciary conducts its own activities independent of the Executive arm. Some eight years ago, the Anambra State Judiciary Service Commission recruited staff for the judiciary arm with no interference by the Executive or the Civil Service Commission. In 2021, Governor Willie Obiano signed the Judiciary financial autonomy bill into law. But, Anambra State House of Assembly cannot recruit its own staff. The last recruitment around the same time for the Assembly was conducted by the Civil Service Commission. Consequently, staff of the legislature can be posted out at will without recourse to the skills and knowhow required for a robust legislature. To that extent, the first step towards an independent state legislature is the establishment and constitution of the Anambra State House of Assembly Service Commission, as well as a law to back financial autonomy for the State Legislature.
Obviously, Anambra State House of Assembly cannot exercise any form of independence if there is no Anambra State House of Assembly Service Commission and no financial autonomy. Over the years, there has been high level politicization of the establishment of the Legislative Service Commission in Anambra and indeed, around the country. The reason for this is mostly because, House of Assembly members who ought to build the institutional relevance of the Assembly are temporal part of the legislature, yet, they are the engine room of that arm of government. For someone to emerge as House member, he has to first win an election and he is tenured, which is to say that House members do not have a long time affiliation with the legislature. In the judiciary, it is different as all staff are permanent and spending decades of service in that arm of government. This unique situation in the legislature has left parliamentary staff of the Assembly who are members of PASAN to their own fate. A typical House member whose tenure of office is four years, is more interested in being in the “governor’s good books,” so that at least he may stand a chance of returning to the House, than thinking of how to make the legislature a proper and functional arm of the government. This then leaves the state legislature at the mercy of politicians, who are in turn at the mercy of state governors.
In the past, precisely in the 6th and 7th Anambra State House of Assembly, the question of Anambra State House of Assembly Service Commission was a recurrent decimal. In the 6th Assembly, the House members under the leadership of Rt. Hon. Rita Maduagwu as speaker, passed the Anambra State House of Assembly Service Commission Bill. But the then governor, Chief Willie Obiano, did not sign it into law till the tenure of the Assembly elapsed in 2019. Then came the 7th Anambra Assembly. Again, the 7th Assembly picked up the Anambra State House of Assembly Service Commission Bill, worked on it, and passed it. This time, Governor Willie Obiano signed it into law in September 2021. The former Governor Willie Obiano, also signed the Fund Management Bill for the financial autonomy of the Anambra State House of Assembly, passed by the 7th Assembly under the leadership of Rt. Hon. Uche Okafor as speaker, into law.
In essence, the enabling structures for an independent legislature in Anambra State have been put in place. In other words, Anambra State House of Assembly has what it may take by law, to be independent and financially autonomous. What is now left is implementation by the Executive arm of the government of Anambra State, to enable the Anambra State House of Assembly takeoff as an independent arm of government in Anambra State.
He is a Technical Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano’s Special Adviser on Legislative Matters, whoonce was a Special Adviser to a former Deputy Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly. Ebuka is a second class upper division graduate of Political Science from University of Calabar, Calabar Nigeria and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science with specialization in Government and Development Studies, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria
