ASSESSMENT OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION - LEGISLATURE PARTNERSHIP: A CASE STUDY OF THE FIRST AND SECOND SESSIONS OF THE 9TH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
- Project Research
- 1-5 Chapters
- Qualitative
- Library / Doctrinal
- Abstract : Available
- Table of Content: Available
- Reference Style: APA
- Recommended for : Educators
- NGN 3000
Background to the Study
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are enormously important players in international development. They provide development services and humanitarian relief, innovate in service delivery, build local capacity and advocate with and for the poor. Acting alone, however, their impact on policy is limited in scope, scale and sustainability. CSOs need to engage in policy processes more effectively. Despite more open and accessible policy contexts, CSOs are having limited impact on public policy and practice in developing countries and ultimately on the lives of poor people. All too often, CSOs appear to act on their own, leading to questions about their legitimacy and accountability. Their policy positions are also increasingly questioned: researchers challenge their evidence base and policymakers question the feasibility of their recommendations (ODI, 2006).
The last 15 years have seen significant changes in the contexts affecting the relationship between CSOs and policymakers. This period has been characterized by globalization, democratization, decentralization, reductions in conflict, and advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs). In general, there is potential for progressive partnerships involving the public and private sectors and CSOs in more and more developing countries.
The number of CSOs is growing. Many CSOs have become aware that policy engagement can lead to greater pro-poor impacts than contestation. We see more and more examples of CSOs engaging in informed advocacy as an important route to social change and a means of holding governments to account. Sometimes this leads to impressive outcomes.
The activities of civil society organizations have over the years engineered several forms of development in Nigeria. Activities ranging from protecting against certain government policies to the organization of seminars, conferences and enlightenment programmes to educate the masses or citizens on the various human rights and how to kick against abuse on such rights. Civil society organizations, through protest and campaigns have over the years worked to bring about accountability in government, in the sense that the government has become more accountable and responsible as a result of the eye cast on it by the civil society organizations, hence bringing about people-oriented policies that further bring about development in the country.
Lewis (2002) rightly notes that different local meanings (have) been created around the concept of civil society as part of an increasingly universal negotiation between citizens, states and markets, seemingly confirming Van Rooy’s (1998) famous quip that the concept’s inherent vagueness is integral to its appeal.
Civil society is a “space” whose function is to mediate between the individual and the State. While there may not be a clear-cut definition of civil society, they more or less agree that it comprises institutions such as religious organizations, labour unions, charity organizations, community groups, non-profits and the media. In advanced and virile democratic systems, these institutions supplement formal processes such as voting and help citizens shape the culture, politics and economies of their nation. Civil society organization tends to strengthen and raise the capacity of citizens to address social, economic and political developmental challenges.
Section 47 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), 1999, as amended, stipulates that there shall be a National Assembly (NASS) for the Federation, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives (Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999).
Hence, the Nigerian National Assembly is the seat of the legislative powers of the FRN. It comprises the bicameral legislative Houses: The Senate and the House of Representatives as stipulated in the same section (47). The power of the National Assembly to make law in Nigeria is spelt out in section 4(1) and (2) and section 4(4), while section 4(1) & 2 confers exclusive power on the National Assembly to make law on items or matters contained in the Exclusive Legislative List. Section 4(4) further confer power on the National Assembly to make law concurrently with the State Houses of Assembly on matters in the Concurrent Legislative List as spelt out in part II of the second schedule to the constitution. By the tenor of sections 4 (1) & 2 and 4 (4), the National Assembly) has wider legislative powers than the State Houses of Assembly. However, that does not mean that the National Assembly has absolute or arbitrary legislative power. The legislative power of the National Assembly is still circumscribed by the provisions of the constitution and the National Assembly cannot confer more legislative power on itself than that contained in the Constitution (Abifarin et al., 2018; Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999).
This peculiarity gives the legislature the place of primacy out of the three organs of government being that governance begins with law making and is followed up by enforcing the laws and adjudication of disputes that may arise from the implementation. This puts the legislature in a strategic and foremost position for the design of societal development by wielding its constitutional powers. It is the nature of the legislative process and quality of its output that determines the health of the society for which such laws are made.
The human society is an organic phenomenon. As such, it is never static. The pressures of its geophysical and the natural interaction of its parts render the human society always dynamic. It is the task of the legislature to make laws and policies to guide the societal dynamism into the smooth channels of growth and development for the good of all. Any policy that is not supported by the legislature is not sustainable. It follows that the state or level of national development of the country is strongly determined by capability of the legislature. In other words, all the power that the legislature possesses is for development, national development. To this end, it can pass necessary relevant laws and employ the force of the community in the execution of such laws in aid of national development.
CSOs collaborate with this institution of government, which has law-making powers. To this end, CSOs in Nigeria have found it proactive to insert themselves into the legislative process to be more effective in the execution of their primary objectives instead of being reactive in demonstrations and protests that might become disruptive or outright unproductive.
CSOs’ Legislative advocacy refers to efforts by them to shape policy by exerting influence on laws made by the legislature (Dan-Azumi, 2018). Empirical research on CSOs reveals that they perform several advocacy functions that include identifying unaddressed problems and bringing them to public attention, giving voice to the wide range of economic and socio-political, concerns (Dodgson, Lee, & Drager, 2002; Keeble, 1999; Raghavan, 2001; Sheehan, 2000). At every stage of the legislative process, CSOs can contribute either in informing or shaping the legislation and thus contributing in the policy formulation process. They do this by providing information that is vital for the development of a given legislation that has potential impact on society.
Covey (1994) identified five strategies deployed by CSOs in influencing public policy and legislation. These are education, persuasion, collaboration, litigation and confrontation. At every stage of the legislative process, CSOs can deploy any of these strategies towards ensuring involvement in the legislative process. Effective advocacy strategy requires good knowledge of the legislative process, which include how a bill is passed in the Legislature, the processes, key decision makers and the power brokers. The effectiveness of legislative engagement, however, depends on knowledge of the legislative process and when to engage legislators at individual or committee stage (Dan-Azumi, 2018).
Neji (2011) argues that the Nigerian democratic experimentation can benefit immensely from the involvement and engagements of a responsive civil society. He opined that it is the various organs of civil society along with other democratic institutions that will hold those who govern in check to ensure the societal good.
Civil society intervention in the legislative process is a very strategic move on the part of the CSOs and this has had remarkable results in Nigeria. One of such impacts is the role played by CSOs in the enactment of the National Health Act of 2014 as expounded in Dr Jake Dan-Azumi’s research paper on CSOs Advocacy and the Legislative Process in Nigeria. Given the alignment of the objective for the creation of the Legislature and the CSOs, a partnership of both bodies is long overdue and could prove to be the missing link in the achievement of accelerated gains on the dividends of the Nigerian democracy.
Mike Utsaha, at a roundtable organized by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in 2014, asserts that civil society is largely responsible for the emergence of the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA), a law that had spent the longest period within the legislature and experienced many more setbacks than any Bill previously brought before the National Assembly (NASS) before it was eventually passed. After its passage civil society has not only been in the forefront of sensitizing members of the public on its existence but has been in the forefront of advocacy for its implementation. But it is not only the FoIA that traces its legislative paternity to the role of civil society but there are others like the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the Child Rights Act and one which has yet to be passed but which is of interest to civil society – the Petroleum Industries Bill (PIB). Another area in which Nigeria civil society has contributed to the emergence of relevant pieces of legislation is the quality of participation they have adopted during legislative public hearing on relevant Bills pending before the NASS. This activity has largely been facilitated by networks and coalitions formed for this purpose, and this would include the Citizens Forum for Constitutional Reform (CFCR) Electoral Reform Network (ERN) Legislative Advocacy Coalition on Violence against Women (LACVAW) Nigeria Coalition on the International Criminal Court (NCICC) and many others. These groups have provided insights that would otherwise be unavailable to our legislators and have also provided support of a technical nature especially in the area of sharing information on international best practices. In recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic has been at the forefront of social, political and economic concerns across the world. This has necessitated the both likely and unlikely collaborations in various quarters in an effort to bring to heel the spread of the COVID virus. With regard to this, civil society has not been left out. The recent NCDC bill brought before the NASS has been said to have been aided by civil society. This is according to a publication in online Vanguard Newspaper of 11th May, 2020, where the Coalition of United Political Party (CUPP) alleged that Bill Gates, through his Foundation had offered the House of Representatives $1o million for expeditious passage of the controversial infectious disease bill. This has also had the effect, in some quarters, of a call for the legislature to distance itself from the CSOs; as such, moves exemplified in the NCDC bill document are not for the public good. This also introduces a contradiction into the civil society discourse as some of the actions of CSOs in recent times, has been called into question as to their true objectives and the independence of their agenda those of some of the non-state foreign actors who fund some CSO activities. This study seeks to investigate all aspects of the relationship between CSOs and the Legislature in Nigeria, using the 1st and 2nd Sessions of the 9th National Assembly as a case study for the purpose of painting a true picture of the relations between these bodies.
Statement of the Problem
This segment will attempt to give a brief narrative of the issue to be addressed and the condition to be improved upon. It identifies the gap between the existing state and expected situation.
The problem is that while several studies have been conducted on the activities of CSOs and their interactions with the Legislature, it cannot be said that those studies have provided more than enough literature for parliamentary and advocacy jurisprudence.
This study would therefore serve to bridge whatever literature gap that may be present, enrich the existing literature, validate the findings of previous works and equally add value to them.
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