By Adesuwa Tsan
A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Shehu Shagari, has expressed optimism that the appropriate use of standardised manuals in the Legislature would lead to its effective operation, and the enthronement of good governance in Nigeria.
He, therefore, charged legislative aides to use them as guides in undertaking their duties in order to produce unified and better structured pieces of legislation.
Hon. Shagari made this known while speaking on the topic, ”Standardising and harmonising Legislative Processes and Reporting: Overview of House Manuals,” during a 3-day capacity building workshop for legislatives aides in Abuja.
Speaking on how the use of the manuals would enhance good governance, he said most Bills that came before the House were, in many cases, grossly deficient in form and structure due to a lack of a standardised manual on Bills drafting.
For instance, he continued, the absence of a standardised manual to guide report writing caused a lack of uniformity in the presentation by different committees as members and legislative staff relied only on the Standing Orders for the discharge of different responsibilities.
He, however, added that the former Speaker of the 8th House, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, constituted a committee which he headed, that produced standard procedures which should be followed by aides to achieve uniformity in form and structure of bills, reports and other legislative tools.
According to him, the manuals were made after examination of several models of operational manuals from other relevant legislative jurisdictions, including USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and South Africa.
”I, therefore, encourage you to consider these documents as extremely important. You must own them and let them guide the performance of your duties as legislative aides relating to the subject-matter of each manual. This will help the future review or revision of the manuals based on your observations in the course of using them. The overall goal is that these manuals will contribute to the legislative agenda of enthroning good governance in our nation, Nigeria,” Shagari said.
He listed the manuals as Committee Manual, Oversight Manual, Public hearing Manual, Reporting Manual and Bill drafting Manual.
The ex-lawmaker noted that until the production and adoption of the five manuals listed, ”the two chambers of the National Assembly, since 1999 when the country returned to democratic rule, had operated without standardised manuals that would serve as templates for legislators and their aides to work with.”
”The problem created by the absence of these manuals,” he continued, ” was further compounded by the high turnover of legislators every election year. Most Honourable members and Senators failed to return to the legislature and new lawmakers elected had no standardised documents to guide their operations other than the Constitution and the Standing Orders. Only few new Members who, probably had been in the legislature at the State level, were familiar with legislative practice and procedure.
”The result was that we had no uniform standards. Everyone set what he considered to be the standards. Nevertheless, the National Assembly performed well during this period, especially taking into cognizance the fact that throughout the military era, the legislature was not in operation. Only the Executive and the Judiciary functioned. But the institution could have performed better.”
Highlighting the importance of the legislative aide in the success of the Legislature, he stated, ”The role of the legislative aide cannot be underestimated in the success of a legislator and, indeed, the legislature.
”Therefore, at the point of recruitment, the best brains available should be employed by a legislator because it will help him to perform creditably well as he cannot do everything alone, including research, constituency outreach, bill and motion drafting, report writing, documentation and so on. He needs competent and diligent aides. And while on the job, such aides need training and retraining.
”As legislative aides, it is important that you study and familiarise yourselves with these manuals so that your operations will be in agreement with the content.”