Faith Adediran
"The legislative assembly is a hallowed hall, where the dreams and aspirations of our people are translated into laws that shape our society." - Kofi Annan
It is a common norm to attribute a legislative assembly as an hallowed chamber, while the concept of hallowedness of the chamber is largely built around the legislative assembly being the custodian of the law. It should be noted that the representation of the people which is reflected through the representatives is another reason the legislative assembly is tagged as an hallowed chamber.
Therefore, the hallowedness of a legislative assembly must not only be uphold by those who are being represented in the assembly but those who represents the mass of the people must also make it a core of their duties.
The Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall 6th Assembly, the current legislative council in the hall has recorded a number of achievements since the inauguration of the assembly. The most recent and tangible one which is the notice board of the legislative council which has been installed for the purpose of disseminating important information to the Zik Hall and it's environs.
Another initiative of the 6th Assembly is the period inspection of floors in order to maintain sanitation and orderliness on the corridors and toilets of each floor which is an administrative duty that the constitution of Zik Hall has saddled the legislative council members with.
However, amidst all the 'achievements' of the 6th Assembly of Zik Hall, there are still important issues that the Assembly is yet to looked into. And at the peak of ranks of these issues is legislation. The core function of every legislative council is to make laws and formulate policies. The 6th Assembly of Zik Hall has been lacking behind in this function. Although, this is not peculiar to the 6th Assembly alone. It has a common trend for students' legislative/representative councils to reduce their functions to the review and audit of the executive council's budget and the 6th Assembly is not exempted from this trend.
The naming of the council (as 6th Assembly) to set precedence for the other Assemblies that will serve the Hall in the future and the review of the standing order of the council are legislative achievements of the 6th Assembly. However, there are more important to legislate policies that directly affects the Zikites who are being represented in the Assembly. The necessity of the Judicial Council in Zik Hall, Elders' Council remains a customary council without a constitutional right, among other issues could undergo legislation but the council is yet to consider some of these for legislation.
Another important issue is the conduct of the sittings of the legislative council of the 6th Assembly. There have been inappropriate conduct that the members of the 6th Assembly have been exhibiting is alarming. Lateness to the venue of the sitting has remain a common trait of the council. While some members would be at the venue in time, majority uses the 'African time' approach to delay the sitting. This delay which had sometime lasted for about 45 minutes.
The unfamiliarity between some members of the 6th Assembly and the standing order of the council is appalling. There have been a case whereby two members of the council could not properly support a motion that was earlier moved by the Deputy Speaker of the council. Between the two members is a two-time member of the council. What a shame!
Another inappropriate conduct among the members of the 6th Assembly is lateness and/or absence from the sitting without prior notice to the Clerk of the council. This is an issue that arise almost every sitting of the council. Also, members leaving the sitting without being excused and improper dressing according to the standing order of the council are among the inappropriate conduct that the members of the 6th Assembly have been exhibiting and this is becoming appalling. The Speaker, Rt Hon. Adetunji Samson and his deputy, Hon Ojile Moses seems to be the only members of the council who are intentional about their familiarity with the constitution of Zik Hall and the standing order of the legislative council.
All these will raise the question of proper and adequate representation of Zikites by the members of the current legislative council of Zik Hall, the 6th Assembly. Representation is a core duty of the Zik Hall legislative council but a good number of Zikites will interrogate how proper the members are representing them through their conduct in the floor of the council if Zikites attend the sittings to witness how the sittings are being conducted.
Although, some of these inappropriate conducts have been referred to the Disciplinary Committee of the 6th Assembly but another shortcoming from this is that, members of the disciplinary committee are also part of those who are guilty of the inappropriate conducts. This now begs the question of how the disciplines will be upheld in such scenarios.
All these shortcomings raise the interrogation of how hallowed the members of the 6th Assembly has made the Zik Hall legislative council to be?
