By Gift Chapi -Odekina
Members of the House of Representatives have commended the Independent Performance Appraisal of the ninth National Assembly by Order Paper.
The appraisal conducted took account of the bills sponsored by lawmakers in both the senate and House of Representatives.
One of the Lawmakers and Chief Whip of the House, Tahir Monguno, observed that the performance of a lawmaker should not be based on the number of social functions but on the number of bills sponsored as well as other legislative activities.
Mr Monguno stated that a good number of experienced and quality legislators have been sacrificed by the electorates due to error of judgement as non-performers by their constituents.
“Order paper has raised the bar. Over the years, most people did not know the actual work of the legislature. The parameter to measure the success of a legislature is by the number of bills and motions he has sponsored not the weddings her has attended.” He said.
The Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Tobi Okechukwu, urged the media to not only be reporting what lawmakers do but also set the tone for public discourse
“Making laws is only one aspect of the legislature. There’s a lot more job to be done.” Tobi said.
A member from Abia state, Nkem Abonta stressed the need for the media to always lay emphasis on the core of legislators particularly in the public space because according to him, most of the constituents use a different parameter in assessing the performance of lawmakers.
” The report is in-depth and a public document. It should lay more emphasis on the actual duties of a legislature. Let the people know that the core mandate of a legislature is to bring up bills that affect the life of the people. Continue to increase in awareness until we let the public know the right exam to determine for us.”Abonta said.
The Executives Director of Order Paper Advocacy Initiative Mr Oke Opia and the initiator of the appraisal, said that there is a need to institutionalized citizenship participation in the democratic process through critical assessment of legislators’ performance in the National Assembly.
Mr Opia noted that the appraisal of the National Assembly members would provide an objective basis for citizens to determine the suitability or otherwise of incumbent legislators seeking re-election.
