Implementing Ministers to Strengthen Regulatory Agencies- Rep.

The House of Representatives is putting mechanisms in place to track all subsidiary legislations, fees and orders initiated by all federal regulatory and implementing ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), with a view to strengthening them.

REPS.

To achieve this, two bills, the Statutory Instrument Bill 2015 and Statutory Instrument (Legislative Scrutiny) Bill 2015, are to be presented for consideration, according to BusinessDay findings.

When passed into law, every subsidiary regulation/delegated legislation made by  regulatory institutions, including the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), among others, shall be compelled to present them for vetting and approval of the National Assembly.

Order 119(g) of the House of Representatives 7th Assembly, provides that the House Committee on Rules and Business “shall scrutinise all delegated and subsidiary legislation made, pursuant to any law made or deemed to be made by the National Assembly and ensure its incorporation into the body of laws, pursuant to which same is made, and ensure that same is consistent with the powers granted by the principal Act or enabling instrument.”

A reliable source at the House of Representatives, told BusinessDay that the previous House Committees on Rules and Business were handicapped to enforce the provision of the Standing Order/Rule “as there was no law compelling the regulatory agencies to submit such subsidiary legislations to the National Assembly.

“In Canada there is a joint committee of the Parliament on subsidiary legislation, as well as the Ghanaian Constitution. Henceforth, any agency which intends to criminalise certain conduct or impose fees, will require the approval of the National Assembly,” our explained.

According to him, the new Committee on Subsidiary Committee, as proposed by the Adhoc Committee on Standing Order, “Will collate all the subsidiary legislations made pursuant to the principal Act of the MDAs for gazetting and enactment.”

He argued that resolution became necessary as “there are thousands of subsidiary legislations unknown to the public, but kept in the files or letter-heads of the most regulatory agencies, or paid announcement or adverts, but only known at the point of arrest of Nigerians.”

The Committee, during the exercise of its functions, is expected to “give members of the public the benefit of making input into the legislations through public hearing.

“Likewise, the Parliament will be given the benefit of having the subsidiary legislation with the view that the powers give to the regulatory agency has not been breached (ultra vires) not going beyond the legal boundary.” 

He added that the subsidiary legislation is consistent with the original or establishing Act itself.

According to him, because the Parliament has not been doing this, “any aggrieved Nigerian can only seek judicial review of any subsidiary legislation with a view to ascertaining the validity of the legislation in question”.

KEHINDE AKINTOLA