DIMEJI BANKOLE

DIMEJI BANKOLE COMMENTARY BY EBOMHIANA MUSA

With the success of the transition to another civilian dispensation in 2007, many of the nation’s citizenry placed much hope on the ability of the elected representatives to deliver the dividends of democracy. The House of Representatives, which is part of the National Assembly, constitute a critical element in the quest to achieve good governance. When this present house was inaugurated in 2007 with Hon. Olubunmi Etteh as Speaker, there was great joy across the nation being the first ever female speaker. But that was short-lived as a crisis soon broke out that led to her removal.  Following this, The House on November 1, 2007 for the first time in its history overwhelmingly elected its Speaker without any external influence in the person of, 37 years old Oladimeji Sabur Bankole, who promised to make the House of Representatives the “House of the Nigerian People” through robust debates and a faithful discharge of its constitutional responsibilities. Since that time, THE HOUSE has set a new pattern for the discharge of its role which has ensured minimal conflict with the executive. The first major task and test of the new house was the 2007 Appropriation LAW.  Its scrutiny of the bill led to the discovery of unspent fund of 450 billion NAIRA from the 2007 Budget in sharp contrast to the about N25 billion presented in the budget.  Also, in 2009, 350 billion Naira was returned as unspent fund.  Hitherto, these unspent funds are pocketed through bogus end-of-year contracts or some frivolous capacity building spree. The House under the current dispensation has passed 88 Bills affecting all areas of our national life. Among them are two Appropriation Bills, the Revolving Loan for Industry Bill, the Local Content Bill for the oil sector, the Tobacco Smoking Bill and the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO) bill among others. This level of bill passage is no mean feat compared to previous houses. Perhaps, it is in the area of oversight activities that the House has achieved most popular acclaim. Following a resolution it commenced an investigation to the purported $16 billion appropriated for Power without commensurate results between 1999 and 2007. The high drama and publicity of the investigation revealed to Nigerian the level of rot, and misappropriation of funds in that sector. The investigation was no doubt fruitful.

In the same vein the House Finance Committee investigation into the finances of government discovered the startling fact that in the last five years alone over N3 Trillion was not remitted to the Federation Account by ministries, departments and agencies, as they should constitutionally.  Other major oversight activities of the House are in the area of Ad-Hoc Committee on Niger Delta, Capital Market, NNPC, where it was discovered that Nigerian was losing billions of Naira in corrupt practices. The recommendations of these investigations are setting the pace for reforming these sectors of our national life.  In the period under review the speaker established the Constituency Outreach Committee that ensured member’s presence in the constituency through the establishment of functional offices and the allocation of projects to each constituency.  This has resulted in a marked improvement in the level of implementation of budgets. By the end of the third quarter, the country for the first time achieved a 45% budget implementation instead of the yearly range of between 25% - 30%. On another level, Bankole has taken representative function of the House to greater heights in passing resolutions of the House addressing masses oriented issues like communication, Nigerians in Diaspora, ethnic and sectarian crises and personal and workers welfare issues. On the international scene, the speaker recently, lead a delegation of Nigeria legislators to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The speaker’s leadership qualities were recognized when he was early this year elected as the President of the Afro-Arab Parliamentary Union.   Hon Bankole has also made a difference in the area of capacity building.  Hon Bankoles personal bill on Government Accountability and Audit Office passed its second reading stage. The creation of new Standing and Ad-hoc Committees of the House has further improved its standing. The achievements of the last two years have come with minimal confrontation with the executive arm. There is now a constructive engagement between the legislature and the executive. Mr. Speaker has also ran an orderly House where national interest, peoples welfare are the prime motivators of members. As the House enters another year under the leadership of HON BANKOLE , the major challenges are the constitutional amendment and electoral reforms, for which substantial progress has been made.  And with the firm promise on delivering on these two key issues, this present House may yet be the most definitive in advancement of people’s interest, good governance and consolidation of our democratic experience.

 Recorded live from FRCN.