Jump to content

National Assembly (Nigeria)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
10th Nigeria National Assembly
Seal of the Senate of Nigeria
Seal of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
Type
Type
HousesSenate
House of Representatives
History
Preceded byFederal Parliament
New session started
13 June 2023
Leadership
Godswill Akpabio (APC)
since 13 June 2023
Barau Jibrin (APC)
since 13 June 2023
Senate Majority Leader
Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (APC)
since 4 July 2023
Tajudeen Abbas (APC)
since 13 June 2023
Benjamin Kalu (APC)
since 13 June 2023
House Majority Leader
Julius Ihonvbere (APC)
since 4 July 2023
Structure
Seats469
109 Senators
360 Representatives
Current Structure of the Nigerian Senate
Senate political groups
  All Progressives Congress: 58 seats
  Peoples Democratic Party: 37 seats
  Labour Party: 7 seats
  New Nigeria People's Party: 2 seats
  Social Democratic Party: 2 seats
  All Progressives Grand Alliance: 1 seat
  Action Democratic Party: 1 seat
  Vacant: 1 seat
House of Representatives political groups
  All Progressives Congress: 175 seats
  People's Democratic Party: 118 seats
  Labour Party: 35 seats
  New Nigeria People's Party: 19 seats
  All Progressives Grand Alliance: 5 seats
  African Democratic Congress: 2 seats
  Social Democratic Party: 2 seats
  Young Progressives Party: 1 seat
  Vacant: 3 seats
Elections
First-past-the-post
First-past-the-post
Last Senate election
25 February 2023
25 February 2023
Next Senate election
27 February 2027
27 February 2027
Meeting place
National Assembly Complex, Abuja
Website
www.nass.gov.ng

The National Assembly is a bicameral legislature established under section 4 of the Constitution of Nigeria[1][a] The body consists of 109 members of the Senate and 360 members from the House of Representatives;[2] There are three senators from each states of Nigeria and one senator representing the Federal Capital Territory and single-member district, plurality voting in the House of Representatives.

Leadership

[edit]
Further information: President of the Senate of Nigeria and Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria

Section 50 of the Nigerian constitution creates the President of the Senate of Nigeria and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, as heads of their respective chambers. Section 53 states: "At any joint sitting of the Senate and House of Representatives, the President of the Senate shall preside, and in his absence, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall preside."[3] The incumbent President of the Senate is Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker of the House is Tajudeen Abbas. Both assumed office on 13 June 2023.[4]

Functions

[edit]

The 1999 Constitution of Nigeria conferred on the National Assembly, the power over Nigeria's National Treasury and issues involving the prosecution of war with another country. The body also regulates how the President functions.[5] Since the restoration of democratic rule in 1999, the Assembly has been said to be in a "learning process" that has witnessed the election and removal of several presidents of the Senate, allegations of corruption, slow passage of private member's bills and the creation of ineffective committees to satisfy numerous interests.

In spite of a more than two-thirds majority control of the Assembly by the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the PDP government led by Goodluck Jonathan and the Assembly have been known more for their disagreements than for their cooperation. Jonathan has been accused of being slow to implement policy. Many bills, some from as long ago as 2007, are still[when?] awaiting the president's assent. While the Assembly has made strong and often popular efforts to assert its authority and independence against the executive, it is still viewed generally in a negative light by the media and many of the Nigerian people.[6] The Assembly sits for a period of at most four years, after which time the president is required to dissolve it and call a new Assembly into session.

The Senate has the unique power to impeach judges and other high officials of the executive, including the federal auditor-general and the members of the electoral and revenue commissions. This power is, however, subject to a prior request by the president. The Senate also confirms the president's nomination of senior diplomats, members of the federal cabinet, federal judicial appointments, and independent federal commissions.

Before any bill may become law, it must be agreed to by both the House and the Senate, and receive the president's assent. Should the president delay or refuse assent (veto) the bill, the Assembly may pass the law by two-thirds of both chambers and overrule the veto and the president's consent will not be required.

Support

[edit]

The National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS)[7] is an organ of the National Assembly established by an Act of Parliament. Former President Jonathan signed into law the National Institute for Legislative Studies Act 2011 on 2 March 2011 following the passage of the same by the Senate and the House of Representatives. NILS builds on the successes of the Policy Analysis and Research Project, established in 2003 as a capacity building institution of the National Assembly with the financial support of the African Capacity Building Foundation. NILS has as its core objectives to provide quality academic and professional research, policy analysis, training, documentation and advocacy on democratic governance and legislative practice and procedures.[8] The functions of NILS are similar to the services offered to the US Congress by Congressional Research Service, Congressional Budget Office, and Library of Congress, only on a lesser scale as the institute was just established.[9] The institute has been renamed the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, following the amendment to the act establishing it.

National Assembly State Delegations

[edit]
  1. Abia
  2. Adamawa
  3. Akwa Ibom
  4. Anambra
  5. Bauchi
  6. Bayelsa
  7. Benue
  8. Borno
  9. Cross River
  10. Delta
  11. Ebonyi
  12. Edo
  13. Ekiti
  14. Enugu
  15. Gombe
  16. Imo
  17. Jigawa
  18. Kaduna
  19. Kano
  20. Katsina
  21. Kebbi
  22. Kogi
  23. Kwara
  24. Lagos
  25. Nasarawa
  26. Niger
  27. Ogun
  28. Ondo
  29. Osun
  30. Oyo
  31. Plateau
  32. Rivers
  33. Sokoto
  34. Taraba
  35. Yobe
  36. Zamfara
  37. FCT

Women in the National Assembly

[edit]

Currently, there are a total of 21 women serving in the National Assembly, 8 in the Senate[10] and 13 in the House of Representatives.[10] In total, women make up around 4.47% percent of the National Assembly. The first and only female to serve as the speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives was Patricia Etteh who served a four-month term from June to October 2007.[11] The only female to have held the position of governor in Nigerian history was Dame Virginia Ngozi Etiaba who held the office of governor of Anambra State for three months after the previous governor was impeached for alleged gross misconduct.[12]

In Nigeria, men and women have an equal right to participate in public office, which is guaranteed to them by the constitution. Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria bestows upon Nigerian citizens the right to belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests. Many initiatives have been taken by the Nigerian government to promote the participation of women in politics and public service. In the 2000 National Policy on Women, the Nigerian government pledged to ensure that women participate in politics equally to men, implementing an affirmative action quota of 30% increase in participation. In the 2003 elections, some parties waived nomination fees for women in order to lower the barriers to participation.[12]  There are many civil society groups that focus on the interests of women who want to participate in politics. The Forum of Nigerian Women in Politics is an influential group that operates with the goal of empowering women. They have requested that the Nigerian government yield 30% female representation in government appointments.[13]

Women in Nigeria face many barriers to political participation. These include cultural practices, threat of intimidation or violence, high cost of election, inadequacy of willing and educated women, and issues regarding indigeneity. Women who are married outside their constituencies of birth but run for election in the constituencies of their marriage are often marked as non-indigene by the community.[14]

Women face multiple obstacles that limit them in their political participation, and this has an effect on the number of women who are represented in government. These obstacles are related to the high cost of politics, which prevents women for standing for positions, as some women are not able to afford the mandatory expression of interest and nomination forms.[15] These forms are required by political parties to run for positions on their platforms in addition to the campaign costs.[15] Women are disproportionately affected by this because there is inadequate access to education for women compared to their male counterparts and poor access to education translates to poor access to gainful employment, unpaid labor, unequal access to inheritance rights, and discrimination - all obstacles that limit the participation of women in politics.[15]

Mercy Ette argues that there has been less participation of women in politics as a result of the influence of the media. She argues that the media has reinforced a patriarchy in politics and has downplayed the participation of women in politics.[16] The failure of political parties to choose women as strong candidates has also contributed greatly to lack of effective participation of women in politics. These women are often given subordinate positions where they are able to change little to nothing or affect decisions in the political society.[17] Despite the challenges faced by women in Nigerian politics, there has been an increasing number of female participation in politics over the years. In 1999 3 women were elected to the senate and 12 to the House of Representatives after two rounds of elections. Later the number of women in senate has gone up to 8 in 2007, but this number later dropped in 2011.[18] The overall national average for women participation is around 6% for elective and appointive positions which is below the West African sub regional average of 15%. Nigeria ranks the 32nd out of the 35 sub Saharan countries when it comes to representation of women in politics. The upcoming 2023 elections is facing similar criticisms, as there are just 6 female aspirants who have joined the presidential race to succeed Muhammadu Buhari.[19]

[edit]
  • Nigeria's National Assembly Building
    Nigeria's National Assembly Building
  • Nigeria Senate Building (Red Chamber)
    Nigeria Senate Building (Red Chamber)
  • Nigeria's National Assembly Building with the Mace
    Nigeria's National Assembly Building with the Mace
  • National Assembly Complex
    National Assembly Complex

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ The section 4 of the Nigerian Constitution states that "The legislative power of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be vested in the National Assembly for the federal which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Usonka 2019, p. 89.
  2. ^ Eribake, Akintayo (4 May 2011). "Law and leadership in the 21st century Nigeria (4)". Vanguard News. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  3. ^ "Explainer: Is House of Reps Speaker equal to Senate President?". Premium Times Nigeria. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  4. ^ Asadu, Chinedu (13 June 2023). "Legislators from Nigeria's ruling party elected as Senate president, House speaker". AP News. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  5. ^ Arowolo 2010, p. 27.
  6. ^ Odeyemi, Temitayo (11 October 2023). "Nigerian legislatures need to repair their poor relationship with the people". Africa at LSE blog. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  7. ^ ICT, NILS. "National Institute for Legislative Studies". nils.gov.ng.
  8. ^ Assembly, Nigerian National. "National Assembly - Federal Republic of Nigeria". nassnig.org.
  9. ^ "The Nation Newspaper Nigeria - Read Latest Nigeria News". The Nation. Nigeria.
  10. ^ a b "Data on women in national parliament". Parline: the IPU’s Open Data Platform. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  11. ^ "House of Representatives Member | Honourable Patricia Etteh". 12 October 2007. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  12. ^ a b Eme, Okechukwu I.; Onyishi, Tony; Nwaoha, Chimaraoke (August 2014). "Women and Politics in Nigeria : Strategizing for 2015". Kuwait Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review. 33 (2571): 1–13. doi:10.12816/0018802.
  13. ^ Agbalajobi, D. T. (2009). "Gender, Power And Political Leadership in Nigeria: Problems And Prospects". African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. 12 (1–2). Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan. OCLC 711054749.
  14. ^ Arowolo, Dare; Aluko, F.S. (1 June 2010). "Women and political participation in Nigeria". 14: 581–593. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. ^ a b c Agbalajobi, Damilola (3 May 2021). "Nigeria has few women in politics: here's why, and what to do about it". The Conversation. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  16. ^ Ette, Mercy (3 October 2017). "Where are the women? Evaluating visibility of Nigerian female politicians in news media space". Gender, Place & Culture. 24 (10): 1480–1497. doi:10.1080/0966369X.2017.1387104. ISSN 0966-369X. S2CID 149339769.
  17. ^ Okoosi, -Simbine Antonia Taiye (1 May 2012). "Gender politics and the 2011 elections". Journal of African Elections. 11 (1): 74–99. doi:10.20940/JAE/2012/v11i1a5. hdl:10520/EJC123796.
  18. ^ Ette, Mercy; Akpan-Obong, Patience (13 March 2022). "Negotiating Access and Privilege: Politics of Female Participation and Representation in Nigeria". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 58 (7): 1291–1306. doi:10.1177/00219096221084253. ISSN 0021-9096. S2CID 247456340.
  19. ^ "2023 PRESIDENCY: Where are the women?". Vanguard News. 16 April 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  20. ^ Akinola, Wale (20 June 2021). "Meet 19 female lawmakers out of 469 members of ninth National Assembly". Legit.ng - Nigeria news. Retrieved 12 May 2022.

Sources

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Assembly_(Nigeria)&oldid=1274797403"