Most NASS members don't use their surveillance powers - Eyiboh

A former member of the House of Representatives for the Federal Constituency of Eket, Hon. Eseme Eyiboh, has regretted that most National Assembly lawmakers have not used the oversight powers given to them by the constitution to enrich their legislative commitments.

He added that in addition to legislating, legislators can go further by engaging governors, businesses, government departments and agencies to bring development to their communities.

During a conversation with the media at the Ibom E-Library, Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State, on Monday, Eyiboh, who is also the All Progressives Congress candidate in the 2023 elections for Eket Federal Constituency, said legislative business is not for everyone and should be entrusted to someone who knows the law and has the ability to engage and negotiate for their constituents.

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He described as worrying a situation where people trade experience and skill with mediocrity and blindly follow someone who has nothing to bring to the table.

Talking in more detail about oversight duties, the House of Representatives candidate argued that a legislator has the power, through oversight, to instruct a governor who submits a home loan application for approval of a include the demands of the people he represents in the proposed bills saying that it takes a lawmaker who knows his or her business to exploit this provision.

Eyiboh, who regretted the inactivity of Akwa Palm, the unavailability of financial institutions and the lack of electricity for eight years in his local government, Esit Eket, said that members of the National Assembly could , through monitoring, engage the government and other corporate entities to revitalize them.

According to him, "It is worrying that we trade experience and competence for mediocrity. The problem we have comes from the recruitment process because we are trying to build strong individuals rather than strong institutions.

"If you examine the issue of oversight, you will understand that some legislators do not understand their oversight powers to be able to use the provisions of the constitution to bind various branches of government like ministries, departments, and agencies.

"In the legislative field, you don't need to go to war with each other, there are different windows to exploit. The state government is involved and beware, you cannot engage the state government when you are the governor's messenger. A neutral person must be sent to the National Assembly who can confront the governor.

"As I speak to you, my local government, Esit Eket has had no electricity for eight years, no financial institution not to mention an ATM, and you don't think that thanks to the commitment institutional and supervisory networking, the legislature can bind the governor of the central bank to order any of the chief executives of banks to install at least one ATM?"

On the Muslim-Muslim ticket, Eyiboh said, "I don't think there is a provision in our constitution that the emergence of a candidate will be a product of faith, so if a candidate for the presidency chooses to pick someone to brag about their chances of winning the polls, so coincidentally they are of the same faith, that shouldn't be a problem.

"Nigeria is a secular country, we are promoted and guided by the preambles of the constitution which says 'we the people of Nigeria' and not 'we Christians or Muslims of Nigeria'. No candidate from a political party in Nigeria emerges on the basis of faith but on the basis of skill.”