UBONG SAMPSON
As reflective and/or applicable in parliaments across the world, a Speaker is widely viewed as symbolizing the power and authority of the House. The Speaker’s most prominent role is that of presiding officer of the House. In this capacity, the Speaker is empowered by House rules to administer proceedings on the House floor, including the power to recognize Members on the floor to speak or make motions, as well as the power to appoint Members to conference committees.
The Speaker also oversees much of the non-legislative business of the House. He is simply an “elect of the elect” in the House, and this further places him or her in a highly visible position with the public.
He or she serves as titular leader whose duty it is to air the decision, resolution and/or position of the majority on an issue. The Speaker’s third distinct role is that of an elected Member of the House. Although elected as an officer of the House, the Speaker continues to be a Member as well. As such the Speaker enjoys the same rights, responsibilities, and privileges of all Representatives. However, the Speaker is traditionally refrained from debating or voting in most circumstances, and does not sit on any standing committee of the House.
The Speaker is the chief officer and highest authority of the House and must remain impartial at all times.
The Speaker is best known as the person who keeps order and calls Members to speak during debates. He calls the Members in turn to give their opinion on an issue, as they give signal that they want to speak by lift of hand or as the case is in some parliaments, rise to their feet (a custom known as 'catching the Speaker's eye') or they can notify the Speaker in advance by writing.
The Speaker has full authority to make sure Members follow the rules of the House during debates. This can include: directing a Member to withdraw remarks if, for example, they use abusive language.
A worrisome part of the populace in this part of the globe barely know these roles, and as such, often mistake the agenda, resolutions of the House as being an acted will of the speaker.
With this clearly defined line of responsibilities, it would be presumptuous to heap every modest credit scored by the current 6th Assembly in Akwa Ibom on Barr. Onofiok Luke (who is “the Speaker” in this case), as he is only the presiding officer of the House with 25 other members deserving of credit for all that the house has achieved in the 2 years. Therefore, in mentioning some of the achievements of the House under him, he can only take individual credit in the sense of having inspired/led the House to these achievements.
In the last two years, Barr Onofiok Luke's leadership of the state assembly has inspired the House to achieve so much in the legislature's key mandate areas of lawmaking, oversight, representation and appropriation. For instance, in the two years of focus, members of the House have collectively sponsored about 40 Bills, about 18 of which have been passed into law; and while about 8 of the remaining have been assented to, the rest are currently undergoing requisite legislative processes.
Interestingly, the Speaker, as the member representing Nsit Ubium State Constituency, has personally sponsored about 5 bills all aimed at directly touching positively on the wellbeing of low income earners and the Middle class. He sponsored the PRIMARY HEALTHCARE DEVELOPMENT BILL which is now a law, the STATE HEALTH INSURANCE AGENCY BILL, the SOCIAL HOUSING BILL and the PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED PERSONS PROTECTION BILL also passed into law recently.
Most of these laws that have been passed in the house are targeted at sectors with urgent development needs. As a corollary, you have bills such as the YOUTH DEVELOPMENT FUND BILL sponsored by Hon. Emmanuel Ekpenyong and the PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP BILL recently passed into law to address present economic realities in the state.
Also, the House has ploughed in a modest effort in fulfilment of its constitutional responsibility of Oversight on the state executive. It is what has fast-tracked development in the state especially in the economic and social sectors. It is why Appropriations are never done by the House until the various MDAs can account for previous year's approvals. Part of this process is what you see in the ongoing budget defence exercise at the assembly which is the sole responsibility of the House Committee on Appropriation and Finance as headed by Hon. Usoro Akpanusoh who represents the Esit Eket/Ibeno sect in the House.
Owing, in part, to the open legislature policy and practice of the House, Akwa Ibom people today have come to identify the present House of Assembly as deserving of its People's Assembly toga. As an instance to this and to its interventionist preoccupation, it was the current assembly under that stepped in, after an investigation, to ensure the reinstatement of lecturers who had been arbitrarily dismissed from the state run university. The same was the case at the state college of education. The assembly’s intervention also saw to the hastening of the process which led to the payment of pensioners in the state. These retirees, having petitioned the House, got the Speaker immediately ordering investigation into the matter. The corollary of which was a recommendation that led to their immediate payment.
Among several others, this Speaker has also inspired the development of a mentorship initiative for young people by the state legislature. The Akwa Ibom Legislative Internship Programme, AKILIP, is perhaps the only such platform in the country where young people are mentored on legislative basic, volunteerism, peace building, community development, entrepreneurship, and conflict resolution. Having been inaugurated to kick off, the programme is ongoing.
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