Nigeria is governed under a three-arm structure; the executive, legislative and judiciary. Each arm of government is tasked with fulfilling specified obligations as contained in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (“Constitution”). Ideally, the executive and judiciary are saddled with the responsibility of enforcing and interpreting laws respectively; whereas, the legislature is recognized for its law making powers, and responsible for enacting laws that govern Nigeria. Our focus is on the legislature; particularly, the processes involved in making laws in Nigeria.
Nigeria operates a bicameral legislature, which means that there are two primary law making bodies or chambers; the Senate and the House of Representatives (the ‘house’). Both chambers make up what is referred to as the National Assembly, which is empowered by the provisions of section 4(1) of the Constitution to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the federation. In performing its law making obligations, the senate and house must comply with laid down law making procedure.
STAGES IN THE LAW MAKING PROCESS
Stage 1; Presentation of the Bill
Before any document can be recognized as law, it must be tabled as a bill before the National Assembly. A bill is a draft of a proposed law which is presented before the senate and house for deliberation. Such bill can be presented by a member of the senate (or a ‘senator’), the public or a member of the house, and in certain instances, a member of the executive arm of government. Where a bill is proposed by a senator, it is usually presented before the presiding officer, in the person of the senate president. The senate president then forwards the proposed bill to the speaker of the house (or ‘speaker’) for consideration. The speaker is responsible for presiding over the proceedings of the house and where a member of the house presents a bill, the speaker must follow the same procedure employed by the senate president. In the case of an executive proposing a bill, such document is often referred to as an executive bill and presented through the office of the president to the senate president and speaker of the house.
Stage 2; First Review of the Bill
Upon receipt of the bill by the senate or house as the case may be, the bill is forwarded to relevant committees for review. The senate and house have established committees responsible for reviewing bills to ensure that they meet the required standard. One of these committees is the Rules and Business Committee and the Committee on the Rules and Procedure for the house and the senate respectively. In the event that the bill falls below the required standard, the respective chamber committee must send the bill to the legal department of the National Assembly for redrafting. After which, the bill is sent out for gazetting and a date and time for the first reading of the bill is scheduled.
Stage 3; Gazetting of the Bill
Gazetting of the bill involves officially informing the public that the National Assembly is considering a proposed law, and inviting them to make their presentations for or against such bill. The clerk of the appropriate chamber is usually saddled with the responsibility of obtaining a copy of the bill and publishing same in the official gazette (similar to a publication), however where the bill emanates from a member of either the senate or house of representatives, permission must be granted by the appropriate chamber leader before the member sponsoring such bill can publish same in two successive issues of the official gazette.
Stage 4; First Reading
The first reading is done to introduce the bill to members of the appropriate chamber. At this stage the clerk must have distributed copies of the published bill to the members, before proceeding to read out the short title of the bill ( an example of a short title is ‘the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria). The bill is then tabled before the presiding officer and members of either the senate or house are precluded from discussing or debating the contents of such bill until its second reading.
Stage 5; Second Reading
Here, the legislators proceed to debate the bill in their chambers. To begin, a motion to discuss the bill must be moved by a member of the appropriate chamber, and seconded by another member. Where the motion is not seconded, that bill is considered rejected; whereas, a seconded motion will open the floor for debate. Members will be given the opportunity to make presentations for or against the bill, stating reasons why it should be considered or not. Thereafter, the bill will be put to vote and if a simple majority of members vote in favor of the bill, it will proceed to the next stage. It is imperative to note that a motion to commence debate for an executive bill is moved by the presiding officer and must be seconded by another member.
Stage 6; Committee stage
A further review of the bill is conducted by two special committees, namely; the Standing Committee and the Committee of the Whole House. The House and the Senate have the two types of committees charged with the responsibility of examining the bill and making necessary adjustments. The process of analyzing the bill may involve inviting members of the public to make contributions to the bill through a public hearing, and putting such observations into consideration. After which, a report is made and presented together with printed copies of any adjustments to the bill to members of the appropriate chamber. Thereafter, a motion to proceed with the amended bill must be moved by a member before the commencement of the next stage of the law making process.
Stage 7; Third & Final Reading
At this stage, there are no debates or discussions concerning the bill. The clerk reads the long title of the bill and members are only required to study the bill for any mistakes or errors. Where there are none, the bill is accepted and passed into law by the appropriate chamber. Any amendments to the bill made by a member at this stage must be by motion, which must be approved by the presiding officer. In such case, the bill will revert to the Committees discussed earlier for re-evaluation.
Stage 8; Signing of the Bill
After the bill is passed into law, the clerk will print a final copy of the bill and sign same. The bill is thereafter forwarded to the appropriate presiding officer to append his signature and later sent to the other chamber for deliberation and passage. As Nigeria operates a bicameral legislature, a bill which has been passed by the senate must be forwarded to the house of representative for concurrence, and vice versa. Thus, upon receipt of such bill, the receiving chamber must initiate the same law making process as highlighted above and make a decision to pass the bill, reject it in its entirety or make adjustments to it. Where the decision is to make adjustments to the bill, a committee comprising of members of both chambers is formed to deliberate on the amendments and reach a compromise. Such compromise is presented as a report to both chambers for consideration and approval. Upon approval by both chambers, a copy of the updated version of the bill is sent by the clerk of the receiving chamber to that of the originating chamber to produce a final copy of the bill for the president’s assent. However, where the committee fails to reach a compromise, the initial bill will be presented to and passed by the National Assembly before it is sent to the president.
Stage 9; President’s Assent/Signature
The final copy as approved by both chambers is presented to the president for his signature. The signature of the president is required to convert a bill into law and section 58(4) of the Constitution requires the president to append his signature on the bill within 30 days of receipt. Where the president withholds his signature and proposes some amendments to the bill, the National Assembly will consider such amendments and agree to incorporate same into the bill. However, where the president rejects the whole bill, the National Assembly is empowered by the provisions of section 59(4) off the constitution to recall the bill and re-pass it into law by a two-third majority vote in both chambers. Thereafter, such bill will be regarded as law, regardless of the absence of the president’s signature.
This sums up the law making process in Nigeria.