Former President Goodluck Jonathan has emphasised the need for a vibrant national assembly.
According to him, the NASS should be able to override the president on issues bordering on national interest.
The former Nigerian leader spoke on Wednesday evening at the Champions of Nigerian Content Awards Dinner, organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
Jonathan was honoured with the Nigerian Content Lifetime Achievement Award.
His remark is coming on the heels of the criticism that has greeted the current NASS as a rubber-stamp of the executive arm of government.
Both the Godswill Akpabio led Senate and Tajudeen Abass-led House of Representatives have been accused of being passive in their function of holding the Presidency to account.
The NASS has denied the accusations saying all the arms of government need to work in harmony for the country to move forward.
Citing the NASS under his administration and that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Jonathan said they were above board and performed their duty of holding the executive accountable by using their veto power effectively.
For instance, Jonathan recalled his eagerness to sign the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Bill into law while he was in office.
He noted that the bill, sponsored by Senator Lee Maeba of Rivers State and others, was a product of a truly dynamic legislature.
“When I was acting President in 2010, and the National Assembly presented the bill, I promptly signed it and we quickly established a monitoring body. Someone like Lee Maeba, the bill’s originator, and his group also deserve recognition. That was a period when the National Assembly truly lived up to its name,” Jonathan said.
He further highlighted the Assembly’s assertiveness, recalling how it passed the Niger Delta Development Commission bill into law despite President Obasanjo’s reluctance to sign it.
“In 2000, the NDDC bill was also vetoed by the National Assembly. They overrode President Obasanjo’s refusal. Typically, in other countries, it is the President who vetoes bills.
“But in Nigeria, during the law-making process, it is the National Assembly that can exercise the veto. If the President does not assent to a bill within 30 days, the National Assembly can reconvene and, with a two-thirds majority calculated by headcount, not voice vote—enact the bill into law.
“That is how the NDDC Act came into being, thanks to a truly vibrant National Assembly,” he said.
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