LEGISLATIVE POWERS AND CONSTITUENCY PROJECT IN NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC

Abstract

Modern democracy is all about representation and there is no arm of government where this is better symbolized than the legislature. As a matter of fact, the legislative institution is the least developed of the three arms of government in Nigeria because that institution remained abolished all through the years of authoritarian rule. More so the many years of autocratic rule in Nigeria saw resource allocation appropriated on the whims and caprices of the military leaders were the practice was to unduly favour some communities whereas others neglected because such communities had nobody speaking for the administration. However, the dawn of the Fourth Republic in 1999, brought in a legislature with representatives from the various communities in the country whose responsibility is to ensure that their communities benefit from government projects, thus constituency project as a mechanism used by legislators to ensure equity and spread of government presence across the country became an integral part of the appropriation bill. The insistence of the legislature on constituency project, its operation or implementation over the years has caused controversy and row between the legislature and the executive, sometimes resulting in delays in the passage of budgets. What are the powers of legislative powers of appropriation? Is Constituency project constitutional? In what ways has the appropriation of constituency projects been managed over the years since Nigeria transited to democracy in 1999? What has been the experience in other climes outside of Nigeria? And what lesson can Nigeria draw from these experiences? This paper examined the concept of constituency projects, its constitutionality, practicability and management. Data was sourced mainly from documentary method and analyzed by descriptive analysis. The paper argues that constituency project is constitutional and practiced in other climes, but that the controversy in Nigeria was due to problem of adjustment by the other arms of government that remained in place during the years of the military. The paper concludes that with the deepening of representative democracy in Nigeria, the tension which has been intense will ease with better understanding of democratic practice.