Samoa Agreement: ‘A Let Down For The National Assembly Not To Insist That All Treaties Be Submitted For Vetting’ – NAFPOR
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The Oasis Reporters
July 13, 2024
* Urges suspension of funds for treaty obligations rather than appearing helpless.
**‘action of the National Assembly disappointing to Nigerians’ – NAFPOR
‘***the Nigerian constitution demands that all treaties be submitted to the National Assembly for domestication’ – NAFPOR
The leadership of the Nigeria Association for Public Opinion Research (NAFPOR) has condemned the National Assembly’s action in calling on the President of Nigeria to halt the implementation of the Samoa agreement until all issues are resolved, rather than mandating the federal government to submit the treaty and all other treaties in their possession to the National Assembly for domestication, as required by the Nigeria constitution.
They group described the fears of the lawmakers that the federal government could implement a treaty without their consent as a National disgrace.
The fears of the legislature is an indication of an exchange of birthright. The Federal lawmakers have sold themselves for a price by appealing rather demanding for the right thing to be done. It’s only when treaties are brought before the lawmakers that they can determine which treaty to trash and which one can become functional.
The National Assembly should put a stop to the ongoing national lamentation over the Samoa agreement through suspension of funds for treaty obligations rather than appearing helpless.
NAFPOR referred to the National Assembly’s attempt to revoke the Samoa agreement as a “belated cry,” noting that the legislature has consistently failed to exercise its constitutional authority over the executive branch of government.
According to them, the ongoing panic and lamentations across the country is laughable because no treaty ordinarily should have a force of implementation without the domestication of such treaties by the National Assembly.
“Section 12 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended), “No treaty between the Federation and any other country shall have the force of law except to the extent that any such treaty has been enacted into law by the National Assembly.” The exclusive authority to decide which treaties are ratified is held by the same National Assembly. The National Assembly members’ lack of concern for Nigerians is further evidenced by their refusal to challenge the executive branch’s decision to withhold all treaties from them for domestication”.
Comrade Benjamin Atu, National Chairman of the Association, in a reaction to the controversial treaty signed by the Nigerian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, Obinna Onowu, on behalf of the Nigerian Government at the OACPS Secretariat in Brussels on June 28, 2024, said “since the Federal Government (Executive Branch) has learned to shoot without missing, the National Assembly members should also wake up to the effective performance of their oversight functions by also learning how to fly without perching.”
The group lamented that Nigerians had not benefited from any treaty signed by the federal government because several treaties had been signed without the National Assembly’s full knowledge of their contents. Treaties are not supposed to be shrouded in secrecy like the executive council is currently doing. It is a national disgrace that the Nigerian National Assembly is unaware of the exact number of treaties that Nigeria has signed as of today.
Benjamin Atu, a former legislative aide at the National Assembly, also slammed Minister of Economic Planning Atiku Bagudu, reminding him that in a democratic system, the executive cannot implement a treaty unilaterally without the approval of parliament. However, because the Federal Executive Council has failed to send a list of treaties entered into to the National Assembly for domestication over the years, National Assembly members should immediately suspend funding for any future treaty financial obligations rather than lamenting helplessly.
He said the valuable hours of legislative business is currently dissipated on insignificant issues when Nigerians are waiting to see a vibrant and result oriented parliament that will mandate the executive to comply with the provision of the constitution as regards domestication of treaties.
“Nigeria doesn’t need strong men but strong institutions. Nigeria’s parliament owes us a duty to free us from the clutches of these powerful men in the Executive. The legislature, as the first institution of democracy, must make sacrifices for the people by ensuring that the executive does not cross democratic lines, and in doing so, we must refrain from referring to the misunderstandings that arise from democratic debate as chaos.”
NAFPOR maintained that the country has continued to actively sign international treaties while making no effort to domesticate them. Nigeria has ratified several international treaties on the environment, violence, children’s rights, trade, Samoa, and other issues over the years, but they are not in effect in the country because they have not been domesticated.
According to the Nigerian constitution, a treaty that has not been domesticated cannot become law. Nigerian resources should not be wasted on issues that do not benefit Nigerians. Many treaties have been laying dead in the Presidential Villa since 1999.
The group claimed that the fact that Nigeria has not domesticated treaties indicates that the country is not committed to maintaining global peace.
If treaties are naturally submitted to the National Assembly there would have been no need for the emergency arrangements of the House of Representative to restraint the executive branch from implementing a treaty that has not been ratified. The fact that the legislature are afraid that the executive implement a treaty without them means they are ignorant of their constitutional powers.