Last week was one of passion and great expectations. Tension was palpable and emotion ran high as Nigerians from diverse walks of life trooped to the National Assembly to watch the debate on one of the most controversial bills in recent times.

Expectedly, intrigues and controversy characterised the deliberations on the proposed amendment of the Trade Unions Act (also known as the Labour Reform Bill 2004) in the House of Representatives. To show the importance attached to the bill, the House of Representatives suspended discussion on other bills and motions for two days to devote adequate attention to the new bill.

Members of the public and labour unionists monitored the deliberations. The Leader of the House, Hon. Abdul Ningi as usual, set the ball rolling when he was called upon by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Austin Opara, who presided over the session to lead the debate. The main thrust of his motion was to assure Nigerians that the parliament had no interest in the promulgation of the bill as it was being canvassed in certain quarters. He appealed to his colleagues to be objective and constructive in their contributions.

The bill, which was earlier slated for deliberation a week earlier following insistence by members that the principal Act be made available again, suffered a second adjournment on its debate when it became apparent that the mood of the House was unfavourable to its passage.

Having received contributions from 14 members in favour of the bill, Ningi, midway into the contributions from members against the bill, cited Order 4, Sub-section 3 of the House Rule to argue that the House had overshot its procedurally allotted time for sitting and canvassed that the debate be adjourned to the next day. However, this did not go down well with some members who were of the view that the debate should be concluded that same day. This elicited thunderous shouts of dissent and displeasure from the dissatisfied legislators.

But the deputy speaker was determined to end the debate on the labour bill. He thereafter proceeded to announce other programmes of activities of the House and its committee, preparatory to the formal adjournment. He argued that following observations from members the previous week, it was agreed that two days’ sittings be allotted to deliberate on the bill. He noted that while 14 members had contributed in favour of the bill, only eight had had the opportunity of speaking against it.

Earlier during the debate, members who spoke in favour of the bill included Hon. Caro Ojougboh and Hon. Igoh Aguma, who argued that the labour union, as currently constituted in Nigeria, is anti-thetical to the spirit and tenets of democracy.

However, their arguments came under severe attack from opponents of the bill who said the bill was a pay back for the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for allegedly opposing Federal Government’s unpopular policies. Among the members who strongly opposed the bill and suggested holding a public hearing on it were Hon. Olusola Adeyeye (Alliance for Democracy/Osun), Haruna Yerima (All Nigeria Peoples Party/Borno).

The opponents also included Hon. Ahmed Salik (ANPP), Bunmi Bewaji (AD/ Lagos), Hajia Bebe (ANPP), Haruna Yerima (ANPP), Femi Gbajabiamila (AD/ Lagos) among others.

The second day of the debate was indeed the day of reckoning in the House. The leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stormed the legislative chambers apparently to lobby the legislators to support the passage of the bill. PDP’s National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh in company of its National Secretary, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, the National Vice-Chairman, South-West, Chief Olabode George and National Vice-Chairman, South-East, Nze Ozichukwu Chukwu as well as the legal adviser, Col. Joshua Madaki (retd) watched the proceedings from the gallery. Besides, the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa led the presidential liaison crew to the House. At the resumption of the deliberations, seven more members spoke against the bill to bring the number of contributors opposed to 15 as against 14 that spoke in favour. When the bill was eventually put to vote, the ayes had it in a voice-vote that was hotly contested by those opposed to the proposed legislation. Hence, the controversial Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill scaled through the crucial second reading.

Although majority of the members had expressed sadness at its passage, especially the presence of the PDP leadership at the gallery and the consequent recourse of the House leadership to an ad-hoc committee instead of committing the bill to the committee on labour. Many people contended that the presence of the PDP apparatchiks smacked of intimidation and undue interference with the legislative business of the House.

Therefore, in an open display of disgust over the manner the debate on the bill was handled, the legislators opposed to the bill and members of the public who witnessed the proceedings booed the party chieftains who left immediately the vote was concluded.

But in a press conference after the bill was committed to an ad hoc committee, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Publicity, Hon. Abike Dabiri explained that by resorting to an ad hoc committee, an avenue was created for members of the public to make inputs into the bill. She said all the parties would be adequately represented on the ad hoc committee and extensive consultation would be made.

“The membership of the ad hoc committee will be announced in a week’s time and I can assure you that all the parties shall be adequately represented. Nobody will be left behind in constituting this special committee which shall study the bill thoroughly,” she said.

According to her, the ad hoc committee would conduct public hearings, not only in Abuja but also in different locations in the country to avail Nigerians of the opportunity to air their views and feelings on the bill. She stressed that the importance of labour in any democracy was not oblivious to members of the House.

Therefore, the House shall not do anything to the contrary but would ensure that justice is done to the amendments proposed to the bill by the executive.

While reacting to the presence of the PDP leadership during the House session, Hon. Abdul Oroh (PDP/Delta) defended Ogbeh and his colleagues, saying they had every right to watch the proceedings.

According to the civil rights lawyer turned politician, the National Assembly is the people’s parliament, hence all Nigerians are free to observe how their representatives conduct business there.

He denied that the legislators were intimidated by the presence of the party leaders. Rather, he argued that the “members contributed freely and not one of them was under threat. We are matured and experienced people and I can assure you that the party did not, in any way, compel any of us. But we voted according to our conscience. We all contributed on our own volition”.

But with the passage of the bill by the Senate within the week which drew the ire of many Nigerians, many people are of the view that the ad hoc committee that would handle the bill in the House may, after all, be a gimmick to create a false picture of fairness. This line of argument is backed by the fact that the present House almost always works in tandem with the Senate and since the deal has been sealed in the upper chamber, the committee may concur sooner than later.

For now, the House of Representatives has once again thrown itself out into the public glare as several Nigerians are watching keenly to see what it would eventually do with the Trade Unions Amendment Bill.