Nat’l assembly is the clog in Nigeri’s progress, not Tinubu alone — Elder Mark Wosi
Elder Mark Wosi has challenged Nigerians to broaden the national conversation on accountability beyond President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the executive arm of government, arguing that the National Assembly must also answer for its role in the economic hardship, insecurity, poor public services and democratic difficulties confronting the country.
According to Wosi, it may be politically convenient to place the entire responsibility for Nigeria’s current challenges on the President, but doing so leaves out one of the most consequential institutions in Nigeria’s presidential system — the National Assembly.
He accused the 10th National Assembly of surrendering too much of its constitutional independence to the executive and failing to deploy its legislative and oversight powers aggressively enough in the public interest.
Wosi stressed that the National Assembly is not a ceremonial institution created merely to pass laws, approve budgets and endorse government policies.
Rather, he said, it is an arm of government deliberately established by the Constitution to check the executive, scrutinise public expenditure, investigate government agencies, expose corruption and waste, and ultimately protect the interests of the Nigerian people.
“My position is that Nigerians must begin asking not only what the President has done, but what the National Assembly did while those things were happening.
“The executive has responsibilities, but the legislature also has enormous constitutional powers and responsibilities. We cannot continue to discuss Nigeria’s problems as though there is only one elected institution in Abuja,” Wosi said.
He noted that Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution vests federal legislative power in the National Assembly, while Sections 88 and 89 empower both chambers to investigate matters within their legislative competence and examine the conduct of ministries, departments and agencies, including the administration of laws and expenditure of public funds.
The Constitution, he said, specifically recognises investigation as an instrument for exposing corruption, inefficiency and waste.
Nigeria has 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives, making a total of 469 federal legislators.
“These are 469 elected Nigerians distributed across senatorial districts and federal constituencies, giving the legislature enormous potential to interrogate government decisions, scrutinise expenditure and hold public officials accountable.
“The question Nigerians should therefore be asking is simple: what are those 469 lawmakers doing with the enormous powers entrusted to them?” he asked.
THE PROMISES NIGERIANS WERE ASKED TO ENDURE THE PAIN FOR
Wosi said another dimension of the current debate that Nigerians must not lose sight of is the promises that accompanied the difficult economic reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration.
He recalled that when the Federal Government removed the petrol subsidy in 2023, Nigerians were told that the savings and resources freed from the subsidy regime would be redirected into interventions capable of cushioning the impact of the policy and improving the lives of citizens.
In July 2023, President Tinubu announced that the government would invest N100 billion to purchase 3,000 units of 20-seater CNG-powered buses to provide cheaper transportation.
The initiative was subsequently expanded into the Presidential CNG Initiative, with the government announcing the distribution of conversion kits and the establishment of conversion centres across the country, while maintaining that the programme could significantly reduce transportation costs.
Wosi acknowledged that the administration has pointed to progress under the CNG programme, including reduced fares on some routes and deployments in several states.
However, he said the existence of a government programme is not, in itself, sufficient evidence of success.
“The accountability question is not whether a government programme exists. It is whether the intervention has delivered the scale of relief Nigerians were promised and whether the benefits have reached ordinary citizens widely enough to offset the enormous increase in the cost of living following subsidy removal.
“A programme announcement is not the same thing as nationwide impact. A budgetary allocation is not the same thing as implementation. And implementation is not necessarily the same thing as meaningful improvement in the lives of citizens.”
He therefore challenged the National Assembly to investigate the government’s post-subsidy interventions and demand clear answers.
“If lawmakers approved appropriations connected to the government’s response to the post-subsidy crisis, they should be asking how much was actually spent, how many buses were procured, where those buses went, how many conversion kits were distributed, how many Nigerians benefited and what measurable impact the programme has had on transport costs.
“These are not merely opposition questions. They are parliamentary accountability questions.”
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ELECTRICITY PROMISE?
Wosi said the same accountability test must be applied to the electricity sector.
He recalled that President Tinubu’s inaugural address in May 2023 promised that electricity would become more accessible and affordable to businesses and homes, while power generation would nearly double and transmission and distribution networks would be improved.
He noted that the administration has subsequently defended its power-sector reforms, including the Electricity Act 2023, decentralisation of electricity markets, metering initiatives and investments intended to improve transmission and generation.
The Presidency has also maintained that the administration inherited a power sector suffering from generation shortfalls, unreliable gas supply, fragile transmission infrastructure and large financial liabilities.
But Wosi said Nigerians are entitled to ask a more fundamental question:
“What has changed in their homes and businesses?
“What is the average electricity supply now? What has happened to generation, transmission and distribution? How much has been appropriated? How much has actually been spent? What projects have been completed? What measurable improvement has resulted?”
He said the continuing political argument over the precise meaning of statements made during the 2023 election campaign should not distract from the broader issue of public accountability.
“For me, Nigerians should not get lost in political semantics. The National Assembly has a responsibility to interrogate the performance of the power sector, examine appropriations and demand evidence that public expenditure is translating into improved service delivery.”
According to Wosi, the same principle should apply to virtually every major promise made to Nigerians.
“What was promised? What was budgeted? What was implemented? What changed?
“And if the promise was not delivered, who was held accountable?”
NIGERIA’S ECONOMIC NUMBERS TELL ONLY PART OF THE STORY
Wosi said the government can point to measurable improvements in some macroeconomic indicators, but argued that economic growth does not automatically translate into improved household welfare.
The World Bank reported that Nigeria’s real GDP grew by 4.2 per cent in the first half of 2026, compared with 3.9 per cent a year earlier, alongside improvements in macroeconomic stability and external reserves.
However, the World Bank also estimated that 69.6 per cent of Nigerians lived below the lower-middle-income poverty line of $4.20 per day in 2025, while 50.8 per cent — approximately 123 million people — lived in extreme poverty under the corresponding measure.
The World Bank further noted that growth remained insufficient to generate enough productive jobs and materially reduce poverty.
The National Bureau of Statistics, meanwhile, reported August 2026 headline inflation at 15.39 per cent and food inflation at 19.57 per cent.
For Wosi, these figures should not be treated merely as abstract economic statistics.
“Behind every percentage point of inflation is a family adjusting its food budget. Behind every rise in transport fares is a worker spending more of his income to get to work. Behind every increase in food prices is a household removing something from its shopping list.
“The executive has the responsibility to formulate and implement economic policies, but the legislature approves taxation, borrowing and expenditure and has the constitutional responsibility to scrutinise whether public resources are being used efficiently in the public interest.
“The question is therefore not simply whether the economy is growing. The question is whether Nigerians are feeling the growth.”
750 TERRORISM DEATHS AND 7,825 ABDUCTED: WHERE IS PARLIAMENT?
Wosi said the security crisis presents an equally serious test of legislative responsibility.
He cited the Global Terrorism Index 2026, which recorded 171 terrorist incidents and 750 terrorism-related deaths in Nigeria in 2025, with Borno accounting for the majority of the attacks and terrorism-related deaths recorded in the country.
The index also reported that civilians accounted for 67 per cent of terrorism-related fatalities.
He also referenced an SBM Intelligence assessment covering July 2025 to June 2026, which recorded 7,825 people abducted, 1,411 kidnapping incidents and 1,142 deaths in kidnapping and related incidents, alongside ₦7.779 billion in ransom payments.
Wosi acknowledged that the figures were produced using different methodologies and reporting periods and should therefore not be treated as a single unified national death toll.
But, he said, the statistics nevertheless demonstrate the scale of the security challenge facing Nigerians.
“Whatever methodology is used, the human reality is difficult to dispute: Nigerians continue to live with insecurity.”
He stressed that the National Assembly cannot personally command troops or police operations because operational security is principally an executive responsibility.
However, he said Parliament controls legislation and appropriations and therefore has a responsibility to interrogate defence spending, examine procurement, summon security chiefs, investigate intelligence failures and demand explanations over the utilisation of funds appropriated for national security.
“It can also legislate around policing, criminal justice and other aspects of national security.
“The question is therefore not whether lawmakers should defeat terrorists themselves. The question is whether they are doing enough with the constitutional tools available to them to ensure that those responsible for national security are properly scrutinised.”
THE EDUCATION CRISIS IS ANOTHER TEST OF LEGISLATIVE RESPONSIBILITY
Wosi said the same accountability principle must be applied to Nigeria’s education crisis.
He cited UNICEF figures showing that approximately 10.2 million primary-school-age children and 8.1 million junior-secondary-school-age children were out of school in Nigeria, while 74 per cent of children aged 7–14 lacked basic reading and mathematics skills.
He noted that in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, insecurity has contributed to the closure of schools.
“These figures do not establish that the National Assembly caused Nigeria’s education crisis,” he said.
“But they raise an unavoidable accountability question: has Parliament used its appropriation and oversight powers aggressively enough to demand measurable improvements in education?”
Wosi said lawmakers should be asking where appropriated funds go, how many classrooms are constructed, how many teachers are recruited, how many schools are rehabilitated and how many children return to school.
Where insecurity has forced schools to close, he said, lawmakers should also demand to know what special measures are being funded and monitored to keep affected children learning.
“The National Assembly cannot continue to measure its performance merely by the number of bills passed.
“The ultimate test is whether legislation, appropriations and oversight improve the lives of the people represented by those lawmakers.”
THE PROBLEM WITH HEARINGS WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES
Wosi identified what he described as a culture of “hearings without consequences” as one of the greatest weaknesses in Nigeria’s oversight system.
He said a minister can be summoned, an agency head can be questioned, a committee can conduct a public hearing and a report can be written, but Nigerians are often left wondering what happens afterwards.
“Was money recovered?
“Was anyone sanctioned?
“Was anyone prosecuted where appropriate?
“Was policy changed?
“Was an institution reformed?
“Did service delivery improve?”
According to him, those questions distinguish genuine oversight from political theatre.
“A committee probe is not necessarily accountability, just as a public hearing is not necessarily oversight.
“The real measure is whether investigations lead to recovery of public funds, sanctions, prosecution where appropriate, policy correction, institutional reform, improved service delivery or legislation that prevents recurrence.”
THE APC’S EXPANDING GRIP ON THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Wosi also raised concerns over the political composition of the 10th National Assembly and its implications for legislative independence.
He noted that the 2023 elections initially produced 59 APC senators and 177 APC members of the House of Representatives, but subsequent defections and by-elections have significantly altered the balance.
By July 2026, reporting cited in the original analysis placed APC Senate membership at 88, representing more than 80 per cent of the chamber, while reporting in May placed APC strength in the House at approximately 282 of the 360 seats.
Wosi stressed that defection is not itself proof of wrongdoing and that changing political parties does not automatically mean that a legislator has abandoned his or her constituents.
However, he said the scale of the political movement raises a legitimate institutional question about legislative independence when one party controls overwhelming majorities in both chambers while also controlling the executive arm of government.
“The answer should not be assumed. It should be measured.
“Nigerians should examine how lawmakers vote on major executive proposals, how substantially they amend government bills, which proposals they reject, what their committees uncover, what happens after investigations and how often legislative resolutions are actually enforced.
“That is how the public can determine whether the legislature is functioning as an independent arm of government or simply operating within the political orbit of the executive.”
NIGERIANS DID NOT ELECT LAWMAKERS TO DISAPPEAR INTO ABUJA
Wosi said the accountability problem does not stop at the Presidency but extends to lawmakers themselves.
“Senators and members of the House are elected representatives. They are public servants entrusted with public authority and public resources.
“They therefore owe their constituents regular explanations.
“They owe them an account of what they promised, what they have achieved and how they have used the mandate given to them.”
He expressed concern that too many lawmakers appear more visible within the corridors of power in Abuja than in the communities that elected them.
“A lawmaker should not appear before constituents only when another election is approaching.”
He said constituents should demand to know what bills their representatives sponsored, how they voted, which constituency projects they facilitated, what they did about insecurity, what interventions they secured for education and healthcare, and what they did about roads, employment and economic hardship.
They should also demand to know what positions their representatives took on major national policies.
“More importantly, lawmakers should be prepared to publish constituency performance reports and allow the people to scrutinise their records.
“The same standard they apply when demanding accountability from ministers should apply to themselves.”
ACCOUNTABILITY MUST TRAVEL IN BOTH DIRECTIONS
Wosi maintained that the debate is ultimately bigger than President Tinubu, the APC or any individual politician.
“Accountability must travel in both directions.
“The executive must account to the legislature.
“The legislature must account to the people.
“And the people must have the democratic power to retain or replace their representatives at the ballot box.
“That is the basic accountability chain in a representative democracy.”
He warned that when lawmakers scrutinise the executive while refusing to explain their own performance to constituents, that chain is broken.
“When citizens are treated as voters only during election season, representation becomes transactional rather than democratic.”
He therefore urged Nigerians to ask their senators and members of the House the same difficult questions they ask the President:
“What did you promise?
“What have you delivered?
“What did you challenge?
“What did you investigate?
“What did you change?
“What happened to the money?
“And what difference did your presence in the National Assembly make in the lives of the people who elected you?”
THE BALLOT BOX IS THE FINAL AUDIT
Wosi said accountability cannot end with newspaper articles, parliamentary hearings or public criticism.
Ultimately, he said, it must reach the ballot box.
He acknowledged that he has, as a political actor, taken a position on the performance of the APC and has argued that Nigerians should reject the party at the polls because, in his view, its control of the executive and increasingly dominant position in the legislature have not produced the level of governance, accountability and development Nigerians deserve.
However, he stressed that the broader democratic principle extends beyond any single party.
“Nigerians have the right to interrogate the performance of every government and every elected representative and to decide at the polls whether that record deserves another mandate.”
He described the ballot as not merely a mechanism for choosing politicians, but also an instrument of democratic accountability.
“When a senator or member of the House returns to his constituency seeking another term, the electorate has every right to ask what was achieved during the previous term.
“Party affiliation should not erase performance.
“Political loyalty should not erase accountability.
“Campaign promises should not erase the record of the previous mandate.
“And access to the Presidency should not shield legislators from the judgement of the people who elected them.”
THE REAL TEST IS PERFORMANCE, NOT NOISE
Wosi called for the performance of the 10th National Assembly to be assessed beyond speeches, press conferences and the sheer number of bills introduced.
He said Nigerians should examine how many executive bills were substantially amended in the public interest, how many executive proposals were rejected, how many investigations resulted in sanctions or policy changes, how many audit queries resulted in recovery of public funds, how much presidential budget proposals were altered, how many capital projects were actually implemented, how frequently ministers and agency heads appeared before committees, how many legislative resolutions were ignored by ministries, departments and agencies, and how individual lawmakers voted on major executive proposals.
“Those measurements would transform the debate from political rhetoric into genuine legislative accountability,” he said.
Wosi acknowledged that the National Assembly has not done nothing.
The legislature’s record contains legislation, investigations, budget amendments and other interventions. The House, for instance, reported in 2025 that it had considered 2,263 bills in its first two years, with 186 passed at that point and 51 receiving presidential assent.
“The issue, therefore, is not whether Parliament has been active.
“The deeper question is whether its activity has translated into effective democratic accountability and improved outcomes for Nigerians.”
NIGERIA’S DEMOCRATIC CRISIS IS BIGGER THAN ASO ROCK
Wosi argued that Nigeria’s problem may not simply be the question of who occupies Aso Rock, but also the strength and independence of the institutions surrounding the Presidency.
“A powerful President with a weak legislature creates one kind of democratic danger.
“A legislature that obstructs everything for political reasons creates another.
“But a legislature that cooperates with the executive while failing to scrutinise it creates a different danger altogether: the gradual normalisation of unchecked power.”
He said this is why the performance of the National Assembly should be examined beyond the familiar APC-versus-opposition political narrative.
“The President must answer for executive performance.
“Ministers must answer for the performance of their ministries.
“Governors must answer for their states.
“But senators and members of the House must also answer to the people who elected them.”
Wosi said the National Assembly cannot demand accountability from the executive while insulating itself from accountability by the electorate.
“It cannot approve budgets and disappear from the implementation story.
“It cannot summon ministers while failing to explain its own legislative record.
“It cannot claim to defend democracy while forgetting that democracy ultimately means government on behalf of the people.”
THE QUESTION LAWMAKERS MUST ANSWER
Wosi said the fundamental question should therefore not simply be what President Tinubu has done, but also what the National Assembly did while the country experienced the challenges of the past several years.
“When Nigerians were confronted with higher food prices, what did their lawmakers do?
“When transport costs rose, what did they do?
“When insecurity spread into communities, what did they do?
“When schools closed, what did they do?
“When electricity remained unreliable, what did they do?
“When government programmes failed to achieve their stated objectives, what did they do?
“When billions were appropriated, where was the oversight?
“And when the next election comes, what account will they give the people?”
According to Wosi, Nigerians must confront the reality that the crisis of governance cannot be placed entirely at the feet of the President while the institution constitutionally empowered to watch the executive remains in the background.
“The National Assembly is not a spectator.
“It is not an appendage of the Presidency.
“It is not merely a clearing house for executive proposals.
“It is a constitutionally empowered arm of government, entrusted with enormous authority on behalf of the Nigerian people.
“And with that authority comes responsibility.”
Wosi said that when lawmakers return to their constituencies seeking another mandate, Nigerians have every democratic right to ask them one simple question:
“What did you do with the power we gave you?”
SIGNED:
Elder Mark Wosi
[Director General, Omarana Campaign Organisation]
[2nd October, 2026]
