Operational and Structural Challenges of Standing Committees in the National Assembly Perspectives and Options

Abstract

Committees are ubiquitous; they can be found in all types of legislatures. They figure out significantly on all continents and in most countries of the world, increasingly playing a large role in the day-to-day work of parliaments, The Nigerian National Assembly has in place a robust Committee system. In recent times however, there have been questions on the implications of the number and size of Committees, frequency in the dissolution and reconstitution of Committees and the general operations of Committees in the National Assembly. It is in light of these that this paper examines the emergence, characteristics, structure and operations of the committee system in the Nigerian National Assembly (NASS). Our review of the structure and operations of committees in the National Assembly shows that there are some challenges. The paper suggests that to strengthen the activities of Standing Committees, there is need to restructure their number and size in order to bring them in line with reality and address other operational deficits bordering on leadership and resource gaps.