The Legislature and Representative Government in Ogun State Nigeria, 1999 - 2011 By Ibraheem Oladipo MUHEEB Matriculation Number: 73894 A thesis submitted to the Department of POLITICAL SCIENCE Faculty of the Social Sciences in Partial fulfilment of the requirements For the award of Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN March 2015 Certification This is to certify that this project was carried out under my supervision by Ibraheem Oladipo MUHEEB of the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan ____________________________________ Emmanuel Remi Aiyede, Ph.D B. A., M.Sc., Ph.D (Ibadan) Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan March 2015 -ii- Dedication This work is gratefully dedicated to God and to Adetayo Idowu Johnson, Ph.D. -iii- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to Almighty God for sparing my life through this programme. I thank Him for His grace, unequalled mercy and immeasurable wisdom, guard and guidance, I am heavily indebted to my parents for the upbringing which actually prepared me for such a trying moment as in the course of this research. As always, l am again grateful to all my teachers and tutors from primary, secondary, college of education through the University. l am under obligation to register my sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Emmanuel Remi Aiyede, Ph.D. Sir may your efforts never be in vain. l sincerely appreciatw my boss, Professor ‘Tunde Babawale, Director-General, Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) for the necessary push that brought this project to fruition. It is my pleasure to wholeheartedly register my appreciation to all members of my family- Jumoke, Bolu, Busayo and Bola-for all their support and encouragement. I equally acknowledge and appreciate the wonderful support { in all ramifications} of my friends: Dr. Idowu Adetayo Johson, Dr. Olumide Francis Oladapo, Dedo Adefarasin, Bolaji Oyenuga, my siblings, lslaudeen Adesupo, Kamaliah Bidemi and Ridhwan Adesile Muheeb, Engineer Wasiu Adekunle Adebanjo, Kazeem Olasupo and AbdulRafee Muheeb. Sincere gratitude to the Management and Staff of CBAAC; Professor Dele Layiwola; Professor Muyiwa Falaiye; Dr. Adelaja Odutola Odukoya; Professor Akin Alao; Dr. Ayo Yusuff; Shedrach Y. Golen; Funmi Ladele (Mrs.); Dr. Anthony C. Onwumah; Lady Gloria Chuma-Ibe, Ph.D; S.S. Bamikole; V.O. Idonuagbe; Dr. Taiwo Oladokun; Akin Onipede; Segun Dosumu; S.A. Ogunleye (Mr.); Ayo Giwa for their support and assistance. I am indebted to my colleagues, Ibijoke Ladele-Adeboyejo (Mrs.) whose editorial assistance I value greatly; Diyal Manji Augustine, Samuel Akingbade, and Veronica Udoka for their secretariat and logistics suppoort. My profound gratitude to Aderonke Kubura Musa, Jumoke Dare-Lawrence, and Taiwo Akinduro - for their moral support - among other well wishers too numerous to mention. To you all and to those whose names, for one reason or the other, could not appear here but genuinely deserve acknowledgement and appreciation having contributed directly or indirectly to this success story, l say thank you. May Almighty Allah’s Mercy, Grace and abundant Blessing forever be with you. Ibraheem Oladipo Muheeb, March 2015 -iv- ABSTRACT In spite of their critical role and strategic importance as a check on the executive and a bridge between the government and the people, sub-national legislatures have remained largely understudied in Nigeria. This study, therefore, examined the performance of the Ogun State legislature in law-making, representation and oversight, as one of the most volatile and conflictual legislatures in Nigeria between 1999 and 2011. The theory of institutionalisation focusing on autonomy, internal complexity, and universalism provided the conceptual framework. Case study, household survey and exploratory designs were adopted. Structured questionnaire was administered to 424 informed residents of the 1,958,863 voting age population who are able to evaluate the legislature in the three senatorial zones of the state determined by Bernoulli sampling formula. The questionnaire was administered proportionally across fifty-three political wards purposively selected through a two-staged stratified sampling method, covering both urban and rural areas. The questionnaire focused on legislative performance, representation, and oversight. Fifteen in-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted with political, community and opinion leaders, and legislators on legislature-executive relations, available resources and character of the legislature. Secondary data on constitutional powers, number and types of bills passed were drawn from the assembly, libraries and media reports. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative data were content analysed. Respondents’ age was 35±8.5, 65.4% males, 65.4% had tertiary education and 61.4% resided in the urban areas. Many respondents, 60%, indicated that the fourth (1999-2003); fifth (2003-2007); and sixth (2007-2011) legislatures performed poorly in constituency relations, and deploying oversight tools like public hearing, inquiry, debate, and visitation. Eighty two per cent of respondents claimed they were never consulted by their representatives. Some 75% of rural respondents were indifferent; whereas 70% of urban respondents opined the legislature was generally ineffective in oversight. To enhance autonomy, the fifth legislature passed two laws that could not be implemented: a law for the establishment of the House of Assembly Service Commission, and a Self-Accounting law. The legislature depended on the executive for financial and human resources. Executive dominance, lack of expertise and facilities, political will, cohesion, and the passivity of a disenchanted citizenry were perceived to have adversely affected the legislature. The legislature experienced high turnover of membership and leadership. It moved regressively from being marginal in the fourth, to rubber stamp in the fifth, embroiled in internal crisis and ultimately became fragmented in the sixth assembly. The sixth assembly had three speakers, disregarded due process, and was immersed in conflicts over allegiance to the governor, involving accusations and counter accusations of cultic oath-taking. Excluding money bills, the legislature was ineffective in law-making as most bills passed into laws were executive initiated. The fourth legislature passed 30 bills; the fifth 50; and the sixth 51 bills. Eighteen, 33, and 28 of these bills were executive bills respectively. Ogun State legislature suffered from executive dominance, as it could not advance its organizational work process, and was ineffective in representation and oversight. The legislature should seek autonomy in human and material resources to become effective. Keywords: Legislature, Representation, Law-making, Autonomy, and Powers Word Count: 498 Table of Contents Title i Certification ii Dedication iii Acknowledgements iv Abstract v Table of Contents vi List of Tables List of Appendices Chapter One: introduction 1 1.0 Background to the Study 1 1.1 The Legislatures in Nigeria 5 1.2 The Legislatures and Legislative Performance 8 1.3 State Legislatures in Nigeria 12 1.3.1 Bayelsa State 13 1.3.2 Plateau State 13 1.3.3 Ekiti State 14 1.3.4 Abia State 17 1.4 Statement of the Problem 18 1.5 Basic Assumptions 19 1.6 Research Questions 20 1.7 Objectives of the Study 20 1.8 Research Methodology 21 1.9 Sources and Method of Data Collection 22 1.10 Research Instruments 22 1.10.1 Questionnaire 22 1.10.2 In-depth Interview 22 1.11 Method of Data Analysis 25 -vi- 1.12 Rationale for the Choice of Study Locations 26 1.13 Scope of the Study 28 1.14 Ethical Consideration 28 1.15 Significance of the Studies/Contributions to Knowledge 30 1.16 Limitations 32 1.17 Definition of Terms 34 1.17.1 Representative Government 34 1.17.2 The Legislature 34 1.17.3 Autonomy 34 1.17.4 Institutionalisation 34 1.17.5 Legislative Institutionalisation 34 1.18 Outline of Chapters 35 Chapter Two: Literature Review and Theoretical Framework 38 2.0 Preamble 38 2.1 Legislature: Background and Context 38 2.2 Significance of the Legislature 40 2.3 The State Legislature 42 2.4 Functions of the Legislature 43 2.4.1 Legislature and Representation 43 2.4.2 Legislature and Lawmaking 45 2.4.3 Legislature and Oversight 48 2.4.3.1 Questions 48 2.4.3.2 Interpellation 49 2.4.3.3 Debate 49 2.4.3.4 Votes of Confidence or Censure Motions 49 2.4.3.5 Legislative Committees 50 2.5 Legislature: Conditions for Effectiveness and Efficiency 55 -vii- 2.6 The Legislature in Emerging Democracies 59 2.7 Institutionalisation of the Legislature 60 2.8 Overview of the Legislature-Executive Relations in Nigeria 62 2.9 Theoretical Framework 66 2.9.1 Legislative Institutionalisation 66 2.9.2 Approaches to the Study of Legislative Institutionalisation 68 2.9.3 Justification for the Choice of Theoretical Framework 70 2.10 Classification of Legislature 72 2.10.1 Rubber Stamp Legislatures 73 2.10.2 Emerging Legislatures 73 2.10.3 Arena Legislatures 73 2.10.4 Transformative Legislatures 73 2.10.5 Active Legislatures 74 2.10.6 Reactive Legislatures 74 2.10.7 Marginal Legislatures 74 2.10.8 Minimal Legislatures 74 2.11 Gaps in the Literature 75 2.12 Leading Question 76 Chapter Three: History, Politics and the Evolution of Legislature in Ogun State 77 3.0 Preamble 77 3.1 Political/Administrative Structure and Organisations 78 3.1.1 Abeokuta South Local Government 78 3.1.2 Abeokuta North Local Government 79 3.1.3 Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government 79 3.1.4 Ewekoro Local Government 80 3.1.5 Ifo