10 Problems and Challenges Facing House of Representatives in Nigeria

The House of Representatives, the lower chamber in Nigeria, is facing myriads of problems. Out of all the problems that the House is facing, we want to look at ten in this post. The ten problems that we want to look at are:Information Guide Nigeria

• Corruption
• The practice of untrue democracy
• The president
• The problem of party politics
• Constitution violation
• Negligent of duty
• Insecurity
• Agencies and ministries
• Selfishness
• Divided loyalty

Read Also: 10 Problems and Challenges of Petroleum Industry Act Implementation in Nigeria

House of Representatives Challenges

1. Corruption

Corruption is a big challenge to the representatives. They are not representing themselves as representatives. They are representing their various constituencies.

The question now is what happens to the constituency allowances that the Federal Government gives them? How many of them take the money to their constituencies? What about the constituency development funds that they receive? Where are the projects in their various constituencies?Challenges Facing House of Representatives

Corruption does not allow them to be honest. They are not transparent in their dealings with their fellow representatives. Corruption will not allow them to be transparent before the people they represent. The representatives tell their people lies in disguise. If things must be good in Nigeria, our lawmakers must overcome the challenge of corruption.

2. The Practice of Untrue Democracy

True democracy demands that the representatives discuss bills with the people they represent before passing them. Investigations have proven that the representatives pass laws without consulting their people. The reactions of many Nigerians to the bills they pass further prove this fact.WAEC Chemistry Practical Questions and Complete Answers 2022

Most of the representatives are inaccessible to citizens. They do not conduct any public hearings. Where they scarcely do, they do it late without letting the people be aware of what they intend to do. These actions of our representatives limit the participation of the public in the governance of the country.

The representatives should not forget the easiest and simplest definition of democracy as the government of the people by the people for the people. Therefore, any government where the people do not have a say cannot be said to be a true democracy. What our representatives do in Nigeria does not prove it is a truly democratic country. Thus, our representatives should have a rethink.

Read Also: 10 Problems Challenges Facing INEC in Nigeria

3. The President

The President of Nigeria is a great challenge for the representatives. In an interview that Channels TV conducted, President Buhari said publicly that he would only sign the electoral bill when the clause of direct primaries is removed from it. You see that!

Who is then making the laws, the President or the lawmakers? You can then see that the President of the country is a big challenge for the lawmakers. The President tends to tell them what they should say.How to Transfer Glo Airtime to Another User

Sometimes, Lawmakers need to invite the President to hear from him about certain issues. Most of the time, the President will ignore them. Most of the time, too, the President will fail to implement the resolutions of the House. In such a situation, the House of Representatives is incapacitated.

How then can the House of Representatives perform its duty of checks and balances? It is this presidential challenge that has made things to be where they are in Nigeria today. To overcome this challenge is a challenge itself.

4. The Problem of Party Politics

The House of Representatives faces the problem of party politics. Nigeria practises a multi-party system of democracy. Thus, the House of Representatives is made up of people from different parties. These people, instead of debating issues in favour of the whole country, debate them in favour of their parties. This is a big challenge for the House of Representatives.Npower Recruitment

Read Also: 10 Problems and Challenges Facing the Nigerian Air Force

5. Constitution Violation

The House of Representatives violates the constitution that governs their activities. For example, section 63 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) states that “The Senate and the House of Representatives shall sit for a period of not less than one hundred and eighty-one days in a year.” Contrary to this, records have it that the House of Representatives only sat for seventy days in 2021. Only God knows how many times they are going to sit by the end of this year, 2022.

Not only does the House of Representatives violate the constitution, but it also violate its rules. It is stated in rule 2 of Order 5 that the House should start sitting by 10:00 a.m. and should sit until it is 6:00 p.m.  Contrary to this rule, it is on record that the House of Representatives does not start sitting until it is about 11:30 a.m.  Thus, the House of Representatives faces the challenge of violating the constitution, which ought to be supreme in the country they serve.

6. Negligent of Duty

The House of Representatives faces the problem of neglecting the duties the people of the land voted for them to go and perform. For example, the constitution requires them to form a one-third quorum at the commencement of their plenaries. On the contrary, they do not form a quorum at the commencement of their sessions.

When pressed for time, they start plenaries with any number of people they find on the floor. Where are the others? They have signed the register and left for their various businesses.

When you confront the Speaker, he would tell you that as long as the number of people that signed the register is up to the number required to form a quorum, they have formed a quorum. Is this right, Nigerians? Thus, the House of Representatives faces the problem of neglecting the duties the people voted for them to go and perform.

7. Insecurity

The House of Representatives faces the problem of insecurity. They are not safe. Other Nigerians are not safe as well. The most painful aspect is the representatives’ failure to enact laws that can bring security to Nigeria. They can neither protect themselves nor protect other Nigerians.JAMB Form

Read Also: 10 Problems and Challenges Facing the Nigerian Bar Association

8. Agencies and Ministries

The agencies and ministries in Nigeria pose a great challenge for these Lawmakers. After they have suffered to make laws, these agencies and ministries will refuse to implement what they have decided. At the end of the day, it looks like the Lawmakers did not do anything, whereas the agencies and the ministries are the ones who refuse to implement their resolutions.

9. Selfishness

The House of Representative members faces the problem of selfishness. They pursue their interest against the public interest. They like to enact laws that favour them. For instance, they make laws that enable them to take home millions of naira as their salaries and allowances. They do not care whether other Nigerians are impoverished or not.

In addition, some of them leave the function of check and balance to liaise with the President of the country. These Lawmakers dance to the tune of the President because they want to get their gains from him. As such, they skew their laws to favour the President. They do not care whether such laws favour the public or not.WAEC Result

10. Divided Loyalty

One other problem that the House of Representatives is facing is divided loyalty. The reason the people voted them into that office is for them to go there and make laws for these people. Those who voted them in expected them to make laws that will favour the people.

Sometimes, they make laws that will favour the people. At other times, they make laws that will favour the President, leaving the people who voted them in. At other times, too, they leave the people and the President and only make the laws that will favour their parties. This poses a great challenge for the House of Representatives.

Read Also: 10 Problems Challenges Facing the Supreme Court in Nigeria

Conclusion

The lower House in Nigeria has so many problems and challenges. If they must go forward, they have to try to solve these problems. Their interest should be that of the public and not theirs.JAMB Result

Check and Confirm: How much is Dollar to Naira   Pounds to Naira today

📢 We are hiring writers!