F or the first time in history, Nigeria's budget estimates were laid on the floor of each chamber of the National Assembly by the special adviser to the president on National Assembly Affairs, and there is cause for worry over the future of the nation, especially as it concerns governance. While the act itself is constitutional, the circumstances that led to it cannot be justified by any means.

If there is anything that the supremacy tussle between the Senate and the House of Representatives has given to Nigerians, it is the fear that perhaps even the legislative arm of government which hitherto was thought to be the strength of democracy may actually be the weakest link in the process.

Last week, Nigerians were greeted with the sad realisation that the political leaders who they voted resources and time for to go and pursue the development of their constituencies in particular and country in general are more interested in asserting authority on venue of an immensely important event such as the national budget rather than concentrating on the concept of nation building itself.

Whether during debates on the floor of both houses, during plenary sessions or during committee meetings, Nigerian lawmakers who are mostly from the ruling party, PDP, do not leave any room for doubt that they will do anything possible to ensure that Nigeria achieves its vision 20:2020 goal, as set by the executive, but events in the past week show otherwise as it may be a case of much talk and less action because budgeting is an integral part of that action plan.

Nigeria has just ten years of steady democracy in her kitty and for that single reason, it would have been expected that emphasis would be on building pillars that would support democracy such as harnessing dividends for the people they serve and not delaying an issue of national importance because of supremacy tussles. Agreed, supremacy tussles laced with massive ego have been recorded in developed democracies around the world, but Nigeria can ill-afford this type of power-play at a time the country is looking for something to hold on to.

Presently, an issue of great national importance, the review of the 1999 Constitution, is going on separately in both chambers, despite the fact that it is gulping more funds than would have been expended on a joint committee. This doesn't show any sign of patriotism and there have been concerns from many quarters that the exercise may be bedeviled by the disagreement between them.

Traditionally, budget presentation takes place in the House of Representatives but it was not a surprise considering the shaky relationship between both houses arising and fueled by unguarded utterances by members of both houses when the president of the Senate, David Mark, insisted the presentation of the budget must be made in the Senate chamber while the House vehemently opposed it. However, this move questions what interests determine the lawmakers' priorities and what guides their decisions in both chambers.

Senator Mark himself had said recently that "For the avoidance of doubt, what is at stake is Section 53(2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which states inter alia: At any joint sitting of the Senate and the House of Representatives:(a) The president of the Senate shall preside and in his absence the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall preside;(b) In the absence of the persons mentioned in paragraph (a) of the subsection, the Deputy President of the Senate shall preside and in his absence the Deputy Speaker shall preside.

"Members of the House of Representatives openly flouted Section 53(2) at the Joint Constitution Review Committee session held in Minna when they walked out on the deputy Senate president. One would have expected the intervention of party elders in order to put a stop to the flagrant disregard and abuse of the supremacy of the constitution. Let me state emphatically that I have no peculiarinterest in the matter but feel strongly that a stand has to be taken to protect the institution of the legislature for posterity.”

The issue of seniority sadly, has continued to derail progress between both chambers and must have informed Sen. Mark's position and he has protested that the issue goes beyond that of seniority, but the House of Representatives has maintained that section 4 (1) of the constitution has taken care of that as the document has vested legislative powers on both the Senate and the house.

"You could see that the operative word (is) a Senate and a House of representatives. The constitution confers on both chambers concurrent powers. That is why any bill in the House must enjoy the concurrence of both chambers. So the issue of seniority does not arise. The primary role of the two chambers is spelt out in the constitution. It is not an issue of contention," he said.

Mark stressed that, "I feel that the matter should not be reduced to or simplified as a dispute between Senate and the House of Representatives on the venue of a joint sitting of the National Assembly.”

The Senate president said the House of Representatives has a history of disrespect for the Senate and expressed dismay at the negligence of the leadership of the PDP in calling the PDP leadership to order in the face of alleged infractions, particularly citing the failure of the PDP to call the House of Representatives to order when the House walked out of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review (JCCR) on the insistence that they (House members) would be co-chairmen with Senators in the committees.

He referred to the alleged betrayal by the House leadership of an agreement reached last year that both chambers would pass the 2009 budget before last December and emphasised that he had no particular selfish interest in prolonging the matter.

In response to allegations by the Senate president that the members of the House do not respect senators, Hon Eseme Eyiboh, chairman of the media and public affairs committee of the House said, "I'm not joining issues with the distinguished senator, the president of the Senate, but the issue of seniority, because that is the origin of the accusation of disrespect, could be answered from Section 4 of the constitution. The section says the legislative power of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be vested in a National Assembly for the federation, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.”

"What this section says is that the primary responsibility and function of the National Assembly is legislative. It says that the National Assembly shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives. It is not talking about (an) upper and a lower chamber. It is not talking about a senior and a junior. It says a Senate and a House of Representatives.”

If this unfortunate chain of efforts is not broken timely, there are possibilities of it causing a tremendous setback for nation building. In developed countries, cases abound where the legislators had differences but the outcome was of benefit to the larger populace, because they led to reforms that assisted nation building. So far, there is hardly any hope of any benefit of the feud,  only selfish interests being served

The United Kingdom has one of the oldest parliaments in the world. In more than a thousand years of existence, the House of Lords and the House of Commons have fought supremacy battles bordering on several issues including membership. Consequently, it has undergone several reforms that were painful but necessary. For instance, in 1999, the UK parliament pruned the weighty number of House of Lords members from 1,330 to 669 through the House of Lords Act. A substantial number of them were hereditary life peers who in no small measure resisted the winds of change.

The members of the House of Commons fought for equal powers to make laws. It started out as a body that heard petitions from the people and forwarded same to the king and lords. By mid -15th century, they emerged full partners in law formation.

The entire parliament evolved from absolute rule of the Sovereign to a more modern lawmaking branch of government. Most of the early 19th century saw clashes between the US Senate and House of Representatives. The office of the speaker became quite powerful in the 20th century with the emergence of party politics. Committee chairmen were known to exercise tremendous power until the 1970s reform.

So, it shouldn't be such a big deal that we are experiencing a similar incident in our parliament and the myriad of issues the Nigerian National Assembly deals with means that there would be disagreements between both chambers and the personalities and interests of the lawmakers will definitely affect their decisions significantly. But the heart of the issue in Nigeria today appears to be money and ego.”

Earlier this year, the two chambers quit the joint constitution review exercise because of a request to have the deputy speaker co-chair the committee with the deputy Senate president, which the Senate declined. The end is yet to be seen of a feud that was alleged to have been stirred by the House of Representatives' failure to stick to an agreement between both houses to pass the 2009 budget before the end of last year (2008).