Legislative Turnover in the National Assembly: A Study of the South aEast Zone,1999-2015.
Since 1999, the high turnover of lawmakers in the country has been a source of concern to not a few stakeholders but to academics. It was therefore not surprising that the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS) in its latest report conducted in 2014 revealed that Nigeria has the of the Federal Republic of Nigeria requires the legislators to gain the requisite experience to effectively lowest retention rate of lawmakers in the national parliament in the world. The 1999 Constitution discharges their mandate. Consequently, there is decision not to limit the number of times a performing legislator could be re-elected. Despite this, the electorates have the constitutional right to elect or re-elect a legislator. The incessant high turnover of National Assembly members provides a new challenge to democracy. That is, at the inception, one would wonder the level of constructive contributions that would be expected from inexperienced legislators. Re-election of a legislator should under normal circumstance be based on his or her performance and contribution in lawmaking process, representation and oversight functions as well as constituency accountability. However, in several occasions, public deviate in their perception of these constitutional mandates of a legislator, for some selfish and self-serving expectations. With these attitudes, even if a legislator has made meaningful impact in the chamber, he or she may not be re-elected for the failure to play to their tune. Again in some places it is about zoning for substitution not working for the people. This paper seeks to examine the level of Legislators turnover in the South-east between 1999-2015 with a view of addressing this democratic challenge in the region.
