By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA— MEMBERS of the State Houses of Assembly in the 36 states of the federation have formed an association known as National Association of State Assembly Legislators, NASAL, to fight for their financial autonomy and check what they described as executive recklessness.

The association comprises past and present members of the Houses of the Assembly.
Inaugurating the association in Abuja weekend, the acting National President, Dr. Valentine Ayika, said the essence of the association was to fight for the independence of state legislators in a bid to discharge their constitutional roles without any impediments.

Dr. Ayika, who is a serving member of Anambra State House of Assembly, said formation of the group was to ensure that the doctrine of Separation of Powers was respected; adding that state legislators had suffered undue harassment and intimidation from state governors because of lack of a common body to speak on members’ behalf.

Previous attempts at autonomy
He said the proposal by the National Assembly to make state assemblies autonomous suffered setback because there was no existing body where members would come together.
Ayika said: “When there is no confrontation between the legislature and the executive arm, it does not imply that the legislature is not aware of its responsibilities.

Secondly, when the legislators try to implement their statutory powers, it is the same public that will say let the polity not be over heated; life is all about balancing of actions.
“We really have to abide by the doctrine of Separation of Powers because part of the problem we have is individually the state assembly can be dealt with but with an organisation such as this, we can also surmount some of the executive recklessness and harassment on the state assemblies.

“There is this amendment procedure that is going on at the National Assembly, relating to our independence. There is no strong body that is really coming out to support the amendment.

“Our salaries are paid by the executive and he who pays the piper, dictates the tune. What we are seeking is financial autonomy. We cannot be independent if you are not financially autonomous.”

… on Enugu Assembly
On the role of the Enugu State House of Assembly on   the impeachment of the deputy governor, he said: “It is unfortunate because I do not have the facts of what was presented before the House in Enugu State.

“The point there remains that by virtue of Section 188 of 1999 Constitution, with reference to some subsections, there is a term used in that section which says anything understood by a state assembly as constituting gross misconduct is considered to be an impeachable offence; that is constitutional provision.”

He described the Nigerian constitution as one of the most difficult piece of law to amend, explaining that “Nigeria is made up of 36 states; for a section or paragraph to be amended in that constitution, it means two third of the whole state assemblies in Nigeria must have to agree and sign.”