AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PARLIAMENTARY BUREAUCRACY IN THE NIGERIAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (A CASE STUDY OF THE 8TH ASSEMBLY)
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Background to the study
Bureaucracy is a major organizational structure within which policymaking, implementation, and evaluation take place. So vital is the concept (especially in developing countries, where governments are faced with numerous problems and challenges, resulting from the ever-increasing range of activities undertaken by the modern governments) that it not only stands out as the major machinery of government for the formulation and implementation of policies but also its input in the legislative process has become glaringly crucial. It is through bureaucracy and its proper functioning that the political will of a country is translated into concrete policy measures and executed for the achievement of national goals. The adequacy and efficiency of the public bureaucracy are therefore very important to all areas of the development process.
It has become a truism that no process of democratization or economic development can proceed or succeed without the supporting operations of a functional bureaucracy. Whatever system of government is operated in a state, the public bureaucracy is designated to be the prime mover of all aspect of life in such a country. Within the context of policy formulation and implementation which are integral parts of the legislative process, the bureaucracy more appropriately belongs to the policy implementation system but is also active in the area of policy formulation through their recommendation and advice borne out of their experiences and expertise in the implementation of policies and general administration. The place of the bureaucracy in the legislative process becomes more expedient considering the complex and extensive role of government in a developing country like Nigeria as it is expected to properly define, design, and discharge these crucial responsibilities for the good of all. Its effectiveness or otherwise determines to a large extent, the quality of service delivery that will ensure order and stability in the governance process. As observed in advanced democracies around the world, it is fundamentally clear that no legislature can be effective unless it has an efficient bureaucracy, supported with adequate human and material resources to research policy issues, develop models, analyze data and carry out the administrative duties required to enhance the smooth operation of the legislative arm of government. Hence, the United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] (2012) observed that the “parliament is a complex institution. It functions at different levels and many actors influence what it does. Members of parliament, the speaker and leadership, political parties and groups, Secretaries-General, clerks, and administration all play a part in shaping its work”. To this end, the parliamentary bureaucracy provides administrative and support services to members of the legislature or parliament. They see to the smooth functioning of the legislature in such areas as financial, security, catering and welfare, information and communication technology support services, etc. Indeed, for the Legislature to perform its functions effectively and efficiently, there is the need for a well-organized and functional parliamentary bureaucracy.
As observed in the National Assembly Statistical Information (vol. 7, 2019), “the Origin and development of modern bureaucracy in the Nigerian legislature is relatively recent, but non-the- less eventful, dynamic and segmented. It is a history that has been shaped and characterized by various events. One can possibly designate about five epochs in the development of the legislative bureaucracy – the colonial era, the first, second, third and fourth republics’’.
During the early colonial period, the legislative bureaucracy was dominated by Expatriates (mainly Europeans) at the top echelon who were drafted from the British House of Commons to provide support services to the various legislative Councils such as Lagos colony, legislative council of 1861 and the legislative council established under the Clifford Constitution of 1951(Bureaucracy and Law Making,2005). However, the legislative Bureaucracy under Littleton Constitution of 1954 was a full-fledged legislative bureaucracy dominated by Nigerians (Debate of the Nigerian legislative, 1954) as cited in the National Assembly Statistical information, (volume 7, 2019).
At independence in 1960, the legislative bureaucracy remain virtually the same as inherited from the pre-independence period. The parliament did not require an elaborate bureaucracy due to the fusion of power between it and the executive. During the period, most of the legislative works were done in the executive branch and only needed to be rubber stamped by the legislature.
The development of the parliamentary bureaucracy was hampered by the military intervention in the Nigerian politics by the forceful takeover of government on 15th January, 1966 which led to the dissolution of political institutions, which the major casualty was the legislative branch whose workforce was redeployed to the Federal Civil Service.
The transition from Parliamentary system to Presidential system of government in 1979 made it imperative for the structure of the bureaucracy of the legislature to be reconfigured as the legislature was divided into the bicameral comprising of the Senate and House of Representatives yet again, it suffered another setback due to the military intervention in the body polity in 1983, the National Assembly was suspended, the supreme military council and later the Armed forces Ruling Council were created to take over its roles; its bureaucracy was again redeployed to the federal civil Service. This vicious circle repeated itself at every military intervention until the advent of 4th Republic in 1999 when Nigeria returned to full democratic dispensation. In 1999 when the legislature was inaugurated, the bureaucracy was less than 1,000 staff, this number has risen to about 3,000 permanent staff and 3,500 legislative Aides (publication of National Assembly Statistical information, vol. 7, 2019).
Statement of the Problem
Bureaucracies are associated with large institutions where people with specialized knowledge are organized into clearly defined hierarchical structures or offices each of which, has a specific mission. It is, therefore, pertinent to know that bureaucracy provides the personnel that supports the activities of the legislature as well as the administrative back-up for legislative functions. To this end, there are clear chains of command in which each person has only one boss or supervisor. Appointment and advancement are based on merit rather than on inheritance, power, or election. In the National Assembly, for instance, Ojogwu and Wakawa (2011) averred that its political functionaries – which are in most cases subject to term limits – work alongside legislative officers, who provide services required by the functionaries for the ease of lawmaking. Hence, they identified political functionaries as well as legislative and administrative functionaries as complementary functionaries at the National Assembly.
The bureaucratic arrangement of the National Assembly which is embodied in its administrative setup has the National Assembly divided into specialized directorates/departments for the achievement of the objectives of lawmaking. Given this, the services provided within its administrative/bureaucratic organization are supervised by the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA) often assisted by the Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly (DCNA) to whom specific tasks are delegated. The Clerks of the two Chambers of the National Assembly and Secretaries of various Directorates with specialized skills and competencies also contribute to the effective execution of legislative activities. However, the success of legislative bureaucracy oftentimes rests heavily on the support it receives from the legislature which on the other hand considers its own circumstance. In this regard, Carpenter (2001) argued that politicians are compelled to accept bureaucratic policy innovation in the face of mechanisms that may rest heavily on two primary motivations which are; the legislator’s reelection and good public policy. With the foregoing, Carpenter affirmed that while the former seems largely critical to the acceptance of bureaucratic innovations within political institutions such as the National Assembly, the latter in most cases become desirable if it enhances the chances of the former. Apart from these challenges posed to the legislature or parliamentary bureaucracy by the legislators, there were also the challenges put forward by the Inter-Parliamentary Union [IPU] (2008) such as training, rationalization of the management of resources, communication and information, development of legislative research, and the institution of strategic inter-parliamentary cooperation and of reinforcing relations with International Parliamentary Organizations (IPOs). By implication, the output of the legislature becomes impaired due to these challenges of parliamentary administration since, by design, such support service providers are nuanced in legislative activities. Given the listed challenges of effective bureaucratic functioning in the legislative process, this study assessed the effectiveness of the bureaucracy of the National Assembly in the legislative process.
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