BEING AN ONLINE LECTURE DELIVERED DURING 17TH PRESENTATION AND DIALOGUE OF MOMENT LIKE THIS, SITUATION LIKE THIS, IN A COUNTRY LIKE THIS IN TODAY'S LEADERS FORUM ON "LEGISLATIVE ARM OF GOVERNMENT -- STRENGTH AND LIMITATIONS"- SEN.HAMMED THIRMIZZI ARAMIDE P.K.A ARAMED

BEING AN ONLINE LECTURE DELIVERED DURING 17TH PRESENTATION AND DIALOGUE OF TODAY'S LEADERS FORUM.

SPEAKER👉🏾 DISTINGUISHED
SEN.HAMMED THIRMIZZI ARAMIDE P.K.A ARAMED
THE ERSTWHILE SENATE PRESIDENT OF THE 5TH ASSEMBLY
FCAH&PT STUDENTS UNION IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 17TH ONLINE PRESENTATION AND DIALOGUE ON THIS NOBLE FORUM.

DATE👉🏾 4TH  NOVEMBER  2018

TOPIC👉🏾 LEGISLATIVE ARM OF GOVERNMENT --
STRENGTH AND LIMITATIONS
Acknowledgement
*The happiest man on earth is he who learns from nature the lesson of appreciation,all doxolological eulogy,gratitude and adoration belongs to Almighty Allah,the lord of incomparable majesty,master of the day of judgement,the Uncreated creator,creator of mankind,the exhilarator who exhilarated us from a  nasty liquid into a living soul ,the omnipresence,omniscience,omniscient and omnidirectional for his infinitude of  mercy having bestowed upon each and everyone of  us,may his name be exalted and glorified*
Having eulogised the Almighty and creator of mankind,will like to give honor and salutations to whom it due to by observing protocols.
*My Ever Spectacular convener and Board of Admin For TODAY'S LEADERS FORUM*
*Esteemed and ever frabjous members of  TLF*
*Unflagging parliamentarians of  the forum*
*Ever ideological Comrades of  the forum*
*Pragmatic and Altruistic writers of  the forum*
*Ever Sagacious judicial members of  the forum*
*Indispensable Stakeholders*
*Distinguished leaders*
*Indomitable ladies and gentlemen*

*All other protocols are scrupulously and meticulously observed*

Before I delve properly into the topic aforementioned which is the strength and limitation attached to the legislative arm of government, it is imperative we take cognizance on the tenets of separation of powers basically because it is key to the workings of any democratic government, no democratic system exists with an absolute separation of powers or an absolute lack of separation of powers. Governmental powers and responsibilities intentionally overlap; they are too complex and interrelated to be neatly compartmentalized. As a result, there is an inherent measure of competition and conflict among the branches of government.
In an attempt to capture the Strength which is equal to the Powers of Legislature, it is imperative to keep abreast on the modules operandi of legislative proceedings for without the adequate Knowledge on how the Legislature  operates, it would be difficult to decipher the real art of Parliament, As such I hereby wish to refer our distinguished listeners and readers to the comprehensive lecture I once delivered on this platform during the 11th Online Dialogue and Presentation for further clarification and well detailed Information towards  Understanding  Legislative arm of Government at glance with respect to executive and judicial functions While this particular lecture will succinctly covers the scope of the topic which is The strength and Limitations of the Legislative Arm of Government.

Below are some of the terms used in legislature, legislative proceedings, parliament  and political settings as a whole:
Power- power can be said to be on display when Mr. A makes Mr. B to act or
behave in a way Mr. A wants him to act or behave, regardless of the wish of Mr. B, power is an indispensable non observable concepts in a political settings as it is the capacity of an individual to modify the conduct of other individual in a manner that he desires.
It can be in different forms such as coercive power, political power, legitimate
power, reward power, referent power, military power and economic power.

Authority- It is a relational concept to power, as it is the right of one person to
issue orders which must be obeyed by the rest people in his group, it is also the
ability for one to make decisions which guides the action of another e.g. legal
rationale authority.

Constitution-Each of the government is brought into being by a document which is known as the constitution, it is the constitution which states the various arms which each government should have,the composition of each arm, the manner of electing or selecting them, the powers of each, the relationship of one to the other, the manner in which the constitution itself could be amended, the manner in which the government could raise, collect and spend money, the fundamental rights of the citizens and many other matters of arrangements, organizations and procedure, the constitutions stands as the basic law, it is the law of the other laws which the
government may make, usually any law which contradicts the constitution has no effect, it is the basic law of any society.
A written constitution cannot be changed easily, it is therefore called a RIGID
constitution, in some countries, for example Britain, the constitution is flexible as it is not written down and contained in one single Document.

Conventions- in countries where the constitutions are written it is impossible to
provide for all the necessary matters that may arise, in fact there are many matters and practices which are accepted because they have been done and performed in
the same manner for a long period of time, such practices, procedures, matters and duties usually do not have the force of law. They are called conventions, for
example the government must resign when it fails a vote of confidence in the
assembly or parliament, a Member of Parliament or cabinet must always defend all the actions and decisions of the government in and outside the parliament if for any reason, he is unable to do so he must resign his office
Parliament this can be seen as an official elected group of people in a country who meet to make the laws of the country and discuss national issues
Parliamentarian a member of a parliament, an experienced politician who is good at using the rules of a parliament
Parliamentary –it is just a concept relating to parliament such as parliamentary
debate e.t.c

An act of parliament (A law agreed by parliament)
Parliamentary session a time or period when parliament meets Union the process of joining things or people together, sharing an interest or aim which is same Assembly a part of a gov’t consisting of people who have been elected to
make laws Legislation a law or a set of laws Legislators someone who has the power and authority to create new laws
Legislature part of gov’t that makes or changes law
QUORUM : – this is the minimum number of people that must be present before a
sitting can duly start , this number is always specified in the instrument that establishes the assembly.

The legislative branch does have power which is basically the Strength but also limitations to the power.
Below are the Strength of the Legislative arm of Government which shall be followed with the Limitations accordingly.

Definition of Legislative Power
Legislative power is the authority to make laws, to alter or repeal them And to carry out oversight functions over executive bodies and authorities.
The Legislature is the supreme part of Government and can thus be regarded
as Governmental Sovereign.

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic oF Nigeria vests legislative powers of the Federation including a bi-cameral National Assembly Consisting of a Senate and  a House of Representatives.
These Legislative powers of the National Assembly which is our legislature can be classified into three
1. Expressed Powers by the Constitution : Express powers are those powers of the legislature that are specifically and provided for in the constitution. These powers are itemized under the constitution and form the basis for the exercise of all other powers of the legislature

2. Implied Powers Which arises from extensions of the provisions of the Constitution : These are neccesary or ancillary powers of the legislature E.g Section 89 of the 1999 Constitution empowers the legislature to procure all such evidence, written or oral, direct or circumstantial as it may think neccesary or desirable, and examine all persons as witnesses whose evidence may be material or relevant to the subject matter.
3. Assumed Powers as a result of lacunae in the constitutional provisions : The assumed powers are rights claimed by the legislature which, though not tenable as rights, are not unconstitutional, since there is no provision in the constitution prohibiting them.
All aforementioned are basically the powers of the legislative arm of government which there are different proceedings at which these powers are been used making it the STRENGTH of the parliament.
However the ultimate Strength of Nigeria  Legislature has been enclosed in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Which is in accordance to Section 4(2)of the constitution that says
The National Assembly shall have power to make Laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation.

The Legislature is the supreme part of Government and can thus be regarded
as Governmental Sovereign.
Therefore the major strength of the legislative arm of government is that it is the branch that actually has the right and the power to make Laws ,no other branch of government can make laws ,legislature can make laws on any topic that it wants and this gives the Legislative branch a great deal of Power and strength over other arms of Government.
This major strength of the legislative arm of government gives the legislators the power to transform the institutions that lock the  country's poor majority into poverty, vulnerability and poor governance and it is imperative any idealogical Legislator understand his/her tasks as custodian of the legislative power because Without LAWS,  government cannot govern, we must learn how to transform problematic institutions as legislators . To achieve or do that, that small handful of policy makers who comprise government must channel the behaviours of swarms of governmental employees and the ccitizenry at large along desired paths. To influence the behaviours of millions, the legislature must be able to formulate, enact and implement rules to change behaviors,politicians policy declaration and exhortation have their place. However, for seriously Intended, publicly avowed policies, government must use the law for two reasons which are
Legitimacy
Ultra Vires Rule  I.e beyond the power
Legitimacy : In most countries, citizens and officials do not feel morally obliged to comply with a mere policy statement. They do feel more obliged to comply with a law and that is the point.  When you enact a rule as a law, you give it Legitimacy, the more legitimate a rule, the more citizens will obey it, of course officials must enforce it,they do so because they feel obligated to do so.  Without a considerable degree of legitimacy, governments cannot govern, and the state fails in such situation. A government seeking legitimacy cannot easily create charisma or a sacred tradition.  It can only act to build Legal-rational legitimacy.  To do that, the legislature have but one option, which is to strengthen legitimacy, government must strengthen the institutions that make and implement good governance.
Successive growth  and development cannot be achieved In our political setting and governance, Execept with our collective responsibility and resolution to obey law and order.ARAMED 2017'

Having established the fact that the legislature can use law to bolster existing institutions, or to change them,for most of the world's history, those with power and privilege used law in their own interests, their own interests usually favored preserving the institutions that underpinned their power and privilege. And that is why we all have to respect the tenets of separation of powers which gives the legislators only the power to make laws but never with the power to neither interprete nor implement the laws.However moment like this ,Situation like this, In a Country like this, we need to be adequately informed,articulate and well inclined with requisites skills and strategy to embark on in ensuring the interest of the laws are well guarded, adhered strictly to not only by the common man but to both the government and the governed,and that is why it is pertinent we take proper representation of constituents serious by our legislature, failure of any legislator to give true and proper representation to his constituency members, be it through town hall meetings,briefings ,invitation to public hearing upon sponsoring of bills is indeed a failure of leadership.
Distinguished leaders and listeners, I would like to take us to the limitations of the legislative arm of government for we all know how powerful the legislature is which can never be overemphasised. However, it also has limitations even to some of the powers which is relational to her strengths.
Before I proceed, permit me to quickly run through how to ensure effective implementation of laws which is the strength of the legislature with a list of some other powers which is relational to the strength of the legislature.
Over the years, everywhere, people complain. We have good laws but they don't get implemented and obeyed even by government officials. My dear listeners.  That Complaints Contradicts itself.  How can we call a law good when it does not work?  The legislative power that the Constitution assigns to the legislators requires the legislature to oversee the Executive arm implementation of the laws which is what we called OVERSIGHT FUNCTION ,this is very pivotal to any good government and act of governance.
To assess whether a bill ( A bill is a Proposed law drafted by the legislators or executive, to be debated and voted upon in the legislature, and if passed by that legislature, to be enacted into force by laid down constitutional procedure as delivered during 11th online Presentation of TLF) Will work, you must determine whether it, or other existing law, adequately provides for it's own implementation.
Legislative theory suggests that you should not focus only on the bills broad policy  or on its prescriptions to primary role occupants..  You should also give special attention to whether either the bill or existing law provides processes likely to ensure effective implementation.
A law works only when it induces the behavior it prescribes.  Whatever it's proponents good intention, if a law fails to improve existing problematic behaviors, how can one call it good?
To hit the nail, there are two but will touch just one structural explanation for Government Officials problematic behaviors which we see to like they are above the laws.
Based on weaknesses in most implementing agencies structure,two hypothesis frequently prove useful in explaining their behaviors : Mechanism do not exists adequately to implement rules addressed to government officials, and some officials prescribed duties conflict with their personal interests, ideologies,  and perceived role.
First, few laws specify either direct or roundabout measures to make it likely that officials conform to the law's prescriptions. The higher the officials rank, the more vague and ambigous become the monitoring and enforcement provisions that address their behaviors.
Very few system regularly monitor senior officials. To sanction perceived unacceptable performance, most have in place only default mechanisms.only in a true democratic society, a system of checks and balances may serve as a defense against arbitrary behaviors by top officials
All aforementioned justification on the strength of the legislature if well applied will always help to facilitate democratic social change, by enacting effective legislation for the betterment of the people. More so that strength requires the legislators to perform three law making jobs : enacting legislation,overseeing it's implementation, and communicating with constituents that are the sole reason  of government, this gives the legislator the ultimate strength as they will always have vote of confidence by the people through inclusive engagement with members of their constituents.

Below are some other powers relating to the STRENGTH of the Legislative Arm of Government which if well practice with standard legislative proceedings will help in ensuring unparalleled Excellence in our democratic System of Government.

The Legislative arm of government have the power to help in Regulation of commerce and trade with foreign countries.
Legislative arm of Government are in charge of Ratification of important appointment by the head of government e.g.
Appointment of Ministers, Ambassadors, Auditor General must be
confirmed by the Legislature ( House of Senate)
It has to give its consent before the executive enters into treaty with any
foreign government.
It performs over sight function. This implies that the Legislature has the
power to monitor the Execution of governmental projects and
programmes for which money has been vetted
It is a forum for ventilating public opinion and that is why public hearing is one of the way legislature interact with the people making the arm to have edge over other arms of government.
It has the power to control the executive to govern wisely and according
to the wishes of the people.
It has the power to check and balance and scrutiny of the Executive
budget
It can pass vote of no confidence sanction or impeach any government
official upon the consent of 2 /3 majority base on any act which may be
inimical to good governance and stability of the government.

Having taking cognizance on the Strength of the Legislative arm of government, it should be noted that
The legislative branch does have power which is basically the Strength but also limitations to the power,below are some of the listed limitations to Legislative arm of Government.
They judicial branch make sure that tthe legislative arm of government don't do unconstitutional things.
The judicial branch makes sure that they don't go outside of the rules of the constitution. If any law or anything that Legislators  does is unconstitutional the judicial branch will make sure that they don't get away with it under a well organized democratic system, where the tenets of separation of powers is key and respected.
-- The executive branch can veto.
The president can veto any law, or anything that they want to do. The  president can say "DENIED" and it goes back to the legislature (National Assembly)
---The legislative arm of government always vote in decision making, meaning They have to vote Before they get anything done, they have to vote about it and not only vote but get the majority votes.
----The legislative arm of government  have to get elected.
Before they can be part of the legislative branch they have to be elected by the people.

Restriction on The constitution - The  legislative branch cannot enact laws that violate the constitution. this limit is kind  Of limited in that the legislative branch could vote to change the constitution, but it would be extremely difficult and would also need ratification by 2/3 of the states that made up the country of such Legislature.

Legislative arm of Government law's are subjected to Presidential Assent- Legislature can pass laws, but they are not official laws until the president signs them. the president can refuse to sign a law the legislative branch has passed or veto them.
NOTE:  with a super Majority the legislative branch can override a veto though.
The legislative branch can not arrest you for a crime It was not a crime when you committed it so like if you steal public fund In January and  February   it was outlawed to Steal public fund,  you can t be arrested for Stealing the public fund   because it wasn t against the law when you did it
Concurrently, there are other limitations to the powers of the legislative arm of government which are categorically stated
1. Substantive limitations
2. Procedural limitations

1. Substantive limitations:
a. Express Limitations
– Bill of Rights
– On Appropriations
– On Taxation
b. Implied limitations
– The legislature cannot legislate irrepealable laws
– The legislature cannot delegate legislative powers
– Non-encroachment on powers of other Arms of Government

2. Procedural limitations:
a. Only one subject
b. Three readings on separate days
c. Non-delegability of Legislative power
Doctrine of Non-delegation of legislative powers: The rule is delegata potestas non potest delagari-what has been delegated cannot be delegated. The doctrine rests on the ethical principle that a delegated power constitutes not only a right but duty to be performed by the delegate by the instrumentality of his own judgment and not through the intervening mind of another.
D. Rationale of the Doctrine of Non-delegability:
(1) Based on the separation of powers. (Why go to the trouble of separating the three powers of government if they can straightaway remerge on their own notion?)
(2) Based on due process of law. Such precludes the transfer of regulatory functions to private persons.
(3) And, based on the maxim, “degelata potestas non potest delegari” meaning what has been delegated already cannot be further delegated.

E. Valid delegation of legislative powers
General Rule: Legislative power cannot be delegated
My Submission : In an attempt to ensure the society is liberated from stagnancy in all spheres of growth, sustainable development and low confidence in the government, be it the Legislative, executive or judiciary following the strengths and limitations of these arms of government, it is undeniably imperative that the legislative arm of government see the law making institution as a tool to culminate unparalleled excellence cum with standard proceedings with sincerity of purpose in our legislative setting and democratic system as a whole for unparalleled legislature is the bedrock of democracy.
Conclusively, Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of Justice when it matters most, that has made possible for instability and evil to triumph in our society and political settings,for that it is only with the collective responsibility of both the government including all arms of government and the governed  to ensure the principal of separation of powers take its full force coupled with abiding with laws and orders, we can actually rise to a true Developed,prosperous and sovereign Nation.
Thanks for listening
Aluta continua✊
Amangla awetu👊
Victoria ascerta🙏
God bless you all
Sen.Hammed Thirmizzi Aramide

ARAMED®
3/11/2018