An Assessment Of Legislative Effectiveness In Nigerias National Assembly (1999-2011)

The legislature is an important arm of government in democracy given its lawmaking, oversight and representation roles. It is inconceivable to have democracy without the people’s assembly which in Nigeria is called National Assembly. Since 1999, the level of effectiveness of the National Assembly has generated some concernsamong political analysts, scholars and other stakeholders. The significance of its role in entrenching good governance is inevitable, but its legislative output and impact on the people are questionable. It is against this backdrop that this study assessed the level of effectiveness of the National Assembly in lawmaking between 1999 and 2011. The objectives of the study were to: (i) identify the factors that determine the effectiveness of the National Assembly in lawmaking; (ii) compare the lawmaking performance of the 4th, 5th and 6th Assemblies; and (iii) examine the impact of some Acts of the National Assembly on good governance in Nigeria.rnThe study adopted the neo-institutional theoretical framework. It employed the sequential mixed method research design using both primary and secondary data. Primary data was sourced through purposive in-depth interview, while secondary data was sourced from National Assembly’s official documents, relevant journals, newspapers and textbooks. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including directional graphs and Institutional Legislative Effectiveness Score (ILES) based on the ILES benchmark of τ = 0 – 1 (where the closer to 0, the poor). rnThe findings of the study were that:rni. of the six factors that determine the effectiveness of the National Assembly in lawmaking, cognate experience, educational qualification, turnover, innate ability, Committee chairmanship and ideological consideration ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th respectively; rnii. the lawmaking effectiveness of the National Assembly between 1999 and 2011 was ‘fair’ given the value of average ILES of 0.27 on the benchmark;rniii. by comparison, the 4th Assembly’s average ILES of 0.20, 5th Assembly’s 0.25 and 6th Assembly’s 0.31, indicated that lawmaking effectiveness is relatively progressive in the 6th Assembly;rniv. there is positive relationship between Bill sponsorship and passage in the 4th (288:84) and 5th (395:149) Assemblies but the 6th Assembly (490:112) recorded inverse relationship; andrnv. the National Assembly enacted 183 Acts in 12 years which comprise 35% economic, 18% social, 2% cultural, 22% political and 23% regulatory Acts. Most of these Acts did not significantly impact positively on the people. For instance, despite the Child Right Act 2003, as at 2017, approximately 6 out of 10 children in Nigeria still experienced physical violence. 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 10 boys experience sexual violence. rnThe study concluded that the impact of the Acts of National Assembly is not felt by the people as the core values were not achieved. This is attributed mainly to low capacity of most legislators and unhealthy political terrain which led toweak enforcement of the Acts. The study recommended improved capacity building for legislators and reduced bureaucracy to ensure harmonious governance for the benefits of Nigerians.

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