OrderPaper Nigeria’s premier and pre-eminent policy think tank has identified the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila and 19 others as the best-performing lawmakers in the outgoing 9th Assembly.
The top performing lawmakers includes the deputy Senate President Ovie Omo -Agege, Senators Sani Musa, and Opeyemi Bamidele and the spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Mr Benjamin Kalu.
OrderPaper Nigeria Executive Director, Oke Epia, OrderPaper in a statement explained that the shortlist comprises a female Senator, two Principal Officers, two Presiding Officers and ten first-term lawmakers across party lines from both the Senate and House of Representatives.
He stated that the lawmakers make the Semi-Finalists list for the country’s first-ever Most Valuable Parliamentarian (MVP) Hall of Fame.
Justifying the shortlist, he noted: “The annual appraisals focused exclusively on the core legislative function of law-making, and consideration for the MVP nomination and subsequent shortlisting essentially applied the criteria of Value, Impact, and Productivity in rating the contributions of those shortlisted.
“While value speaks to the correlation of a bill’s advancement of the governance objective of the federal government; impact relates to the empirical contribution of a bill to the enhancement of the lives and living conditions of citizens; and productivity applies to the stage of progression of a bill to measure the diligence, dedication and hard work put into its processing by its sponsor.
“The MVP Hall of Fame initiative, which is in furtherance of OrderPaper’s contributions to legislative strengthening and promotion of improved service delivery in the National Assembly, aims at identifying and sustaining a distinct class of legislators who are performance-driven, excellence-inspired, and public-spirited.”
The MVPs Induction to send forth the 9th Assembly Class and welcome those re-elected back to Parliament will hold as a high-profile exclusive event at a date to be announced in due course.
The Most Valuable Parliamentarian (MVP) Hall of Fame is an invitation-only arena reserved for a distinct class of legislators who have proven to be performance-driven, excellence-inspired, and public-spirited.
It is designed to applaud and encourage exemplary leadership by leaders guided by a community of practice in productive partnerships between the Legislature, Civil Society and the citizenry in Nigeria. Designed by OrderPaper Nigeria and implemented in collaboration with renowned Civil Society partners, the MVP Hall of Fame is NOT driven by any pecuniary motive whatsoever.
OrderPaper reiterates that while it acknowledges that bills processing is not the only function of legislators, it is undoubtedly the most important; and measurement of performance on that score is based strictly on the sanctity of incontrovertible data, unlike performance measured against representation and oversight, which are the other statutory functions of legislators.
“Performance appraisals based on bills processing is therefore the most veritable, viable and verifiable in measuring performance at this late renascent stage of Nigeria’s parliamentary practice,” said Epia, adding that “this is why not even one of the 469-member federal parliament has been able to make any valid contestation of our performance appraisals published in the last three years.
“Civil society and citizens generally expect the National Assembly to be more open, transparent and accountable so that performance of oversight and representation functions, including the controversial constituency projects scheme, can be subjected to objective appraisals as advised by data. We throw this as a challenge to the incoming 10th assembly, and one basic and necessary step to take in this regard, among others, is making records of attendance in plenary sessions, committee meetings and oversight visits public.”
The lawmakers comprses Samuel Ifeanyi Onuigbo (APC, Umuahia North/Umuahia South, Federal Constituency, Abia)
Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi (LP, Imo East Senatorial District)
Ovie Augustine Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central Senatorial District)
Uba Sani (APC, Kaduna Central Senatorial District)
Benjamin Okezie Kalu (APC, Bende, Federal Constituency, Abia)
Top Performers, Senate Productivity Index
Uba Sani (APC, Kaduna Central Senatorial District)
Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe (APC, Kwara Central Senatorial District)
Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed (APC, Adamawa-Central Senatorial District)
Mohammed Sani Musa (APC, Niger East Senatorial District)
Ovie Augustine Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central Senatorial District)
Top Performers, House Of Representatives Productivity Index
Dan Agundi Munir Babba (APC, Kumbotso Federal Constituency, Kano)
Uzoma Nkem Abonta (PDP, Ukwa East/Ukwa West, Federal Constituency, Abia)
Fulata Abubakar Hassan (APC, Birniwa/Guri /Kiri Kasama, Federal Constituency, Jigawa)
Mohammed Tahir Monguno (APC, Monguno /Nganzai/Marte, Federal Constituency, Borno)
Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Surulere I, Federal Constituency, Lagos)
Top Performers, Senate Newbies
Mohammed Sani Musa (APC, Niger East Senatorial District)
Uba Sani (APC, Kaduna Central Senatorial District)
Orji Uzor Kalu (APC, Abia North Senatorial District)
Micheal Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central Senatorial District)
Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah (YPP, Anambra South Senatorial District)
Top Performers, House Of Representatives Newbies
Simon Davou Mwadkwon (PDP, Barkin Ladi /Riyom Federal Constituency, Plateau)
Dachung Musa Bagos (PDP, Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency, Plateau)
Onofiok Luke Akpan (PDP, Etinan/Nsit Ibom / Nsit Ubium Federal Constituency, Akwa Ibom)
Waive Ejiroghene Francis (APC, Ughelli North /Ughelli South/ Udu Federal Constituency, Delta)
Benjamin Okezie Kalu (APC, Bende, Federal Constituency, Abia)
