Conduct of Legislative Oversight by the National Assembly

Abstract

The National Assembly is constitutionally established as the legislative arm of government. As a critical limb of the democratic tripod, the National Assembly performs important roles, which includes lawmaking and oversight function. One of the fundamental tasks or responsibilities of the National Assembly is to conduct oversight function by overseeing the Executive arm of government in the implementation of projects which the National Assembly has approved funds for. The business of the National Assembly also includes investigation through the instrumentality of the committees that are mandated to review and appraise the performance of the various Ministries, Department and Agencies of Government. The National Assembly has been criticized for not living up to expectation with regards to legislative oversight responsibility. As such, it has been blamed for high level of corruption prevailing in the public sector and in governance generally. Using the doctrinal research methodology, the paper examines the conduct of legislative oversight in Nigeria with reference to the challenges or bottleneck that militate against the effective function of the National Assembly in carrying out this constitutional responsibility. The paper identified some of the problems and made recommendations.