70 out of 181: How House of Representatives violates Nigerian Constitution
The House of Representatives sat 70 times in 2021, contrary to the constitutional stipulation of a minimum of 181 days
The National Assembly is mandated by the Constitution to sit for at least 181 days in a year. Section 63 of the 1999 Constitution stipulates that “the Senate and the House of Representatives shall each sit for a period of not less than one hundred and eighty-one days in a year.” But in 2021, the House of Representatives only held plenary sessions 70 times.
PREMIUM TIMES had in a first review of the first quarter of 2021 said the lawmakers may violate the Constitution by the end of December because they had only sat for 14 days then.
The standing rules of the House provide guidelines on plenary days. Order 5 rules 4 and 5 of the standing rules of the House allow it to sit from Monday to Friday.
Erroneous interpretation of sitting days
PREMIUM TIMES had exclusively reported how the Senated also violated the law by sitting for only 66 days in 2021. Following the report, Ezrel Tabiowo, the Special Media Assistant to Senate President Ahmad Lawan, claimed that committee meetings are also “recorded as sitting days.”
“Committee meeting days and Public Hearings are also recorded as sitting days. Therefore, budget defence sessions are considered sitting days which also count for the times lawmakers sit during a legislative session,” Mr Tabiowo said.
But Jiti Ogunye, a constitutional lawyer, described the interpretation by Mr Tabiowo as wrong.
“Such a closet interpretation. Is it in the Constitution? So where did he get his interpretation? There is a violation. Go to the definition section of the constitution, section 318, is it there? Is committee meeting part of the consideration for the calculation of sittings under section 63? Such an interpretation is fallacious, that interpretation is not correct,” Mr Ogunye said.
Furthermore, a careful review of the Constitution and the standing rules of the House also suggests Mr Tabiowo’s assertion is not supported by law.
