Background of the study
In almost all known forms of government in the world, especially under the Presidential System, the legislature is an indispensable arm of government because of its centrality as a symbol of popular representation and watchdog role on both the Executive and the Judiciary. The Legislature performs three core functions in any democracy especially in Presidential systems. These roles are law making, oversight and representation. In Nigeria, these core functions are expressly captured in Section 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended. Apart from these core functions, there are other subsidiary functions that are performed by the legislature such as political education, socialization, constitutional development, leadership training among others. The task before any legislature is enormous as citizen’s expectations are on the rise for the legislature to deliver on good governance. For the legislature to achieve its constitutional mandate of effective representation, it requires support services. However, the mandate of the legislature cannot be achieved without the required legislative support services from the skilled personnel that are appointed either on a pensionable or non-pensionable basis and who also require to be trained, promoted, and disciplined. Habu (2010), espoused that the legislatures have established specialized agencies that are saddled with the specific mandate to recruit, train and deploy relevant staff and personnel for the smooth operations of the legislature. He further posits that others have, depending on the legislative environment, relied on auxiliary staff or professionals on non-permanent basis to perform and carry out legislative duties for them.
In Nigeria, since the return to democracy in 1999, efforts have been made to maintain and sustain the independence of the legislature hence the establishment of a body legally empowered by law, to amongst other things; appoint, promote and discipline staff for the legislature. The National Assembly Service Commission Act 2014 as amended states that the essence of establishing this specialized agency for recruitment is to guarantee job stability and instill loyalty to the legislative arm of government and to ensure fairness, equity in the recruitment process and respect for the Nigeria Federal Character Principle.
Section 51 of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) as amended clearly states that there shall be a Clerk to the National Assembly and such other staff as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly. Thus, in 2000, the National Assembly Service Commission was established by an Act of the National Assembly. The National Assembly Service Commission Act 2014 as amended, section 6, (1) (2) is charged with the responsibilities to appoint, promote and discipline personnel for the legislature. Essentially, the National Assembly Service Commission supports the legislators, Committees, Principal Officers with the legislative support services at all stages of the legislative process, through its personnel that possesses appropriate knowledge and skills. It is against this backdrop that this study assesses the performance of the National Assembly Service Commission, from 2013 – 2018.
Statement of the Research Problem
The National Assembly Service Commission Act of 1981 was repealed, re-enacted in 2000 and amended in 2014. Specifically, the Commission, according to Section 6 (2) of the National Assembly Service Act 2014 as amended, is charged with the following mandate; appointment of experienced and qualified staff into the National Assembly Service, promotion of such staff, discipline or transfer of staff from of the National Assembly Service as well as to ensure good working conditions for the service. Adebo (1988), asserted that since Independence in 1960, Nigeria has experienced repeated military coups and each instance of these coups, the legislature is usually disbanded by the military coupists as the Constitution is suspended. Habu (2010), said that over the years, this has affected the capacity and experience of the legislature as a distinct arm of government from the Executive and the Judiciary. In order to remedy this retardation particularly at the federal level, the National Assembly Service Commission was established to fill the gap in manpower and personnel support structure. Since the establishment of the National Assembly Service Commission in 2000, no serious research effort has been made to assess the contribution or performance of this body. Moreover, it appears that despite the existence and expansion in structure and operations of the Commission, lack of adequate manpower and skilled personnel has been expressed by leadership of the various sessions of the National Assembly. Consequently, there has been series of calls for more skilled personnel and professionalisation of the National Assembly manpower. It is based on the foregoing observation that this research work assesses the performance of the National Assembly Service Commission from 2013– 2018.
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