The uncomfortable question many politicians do not want asked is simple: Can any ordinary Delta resident point to a major improvement in their daily life that came directly from the Delta State House of Assembly since Emomotimi Guwor became Speaker?
Supporters of the Speaker will quickly point to statistics. They will tell you that numerous bills have been considered and passed. They will mention legislative agendas, committee activities, confirmations of government appointees, and the passage of annual budgets. Budgets that only benefit government officials but do not have direct bearing on the lives of the ordinary Deltan.
But there is a bigger question. What exactly has changed? In Nigeria, state assemblies have perfected the art of measuring success by paperwork rather than impact. Bills are counted. Motions are celebrated. Resolutions are announced. Yet roads remain poor in many communities, unemployment remains high, insecurity persists, welfare services remain at its lowest ebb and public confidence in state legislatures continues to decline.
Under Guwor’s leadership, the Assembly has often celebrated its harmony with the executive arm of government. That may sound impressive, but democracy was never designed to be comfortable and singing praises of the executive. A legislature is supposed to challenge the executive, scrutinize spending, investigate failures, and demand accountability and transparency from ministries, departments and agencies of government.
Many observers would struggle to remember a major confrontation where the Assembly aggressively held the executive accountable on behalf of citizens. Instead, critics argue that the House has functioned more like a partner to the executive than an independent watchdog, carrying out an oversight function on the executive. This raises an uncomfortable possibility: Has the Assembly become too cooperative?
The passage of bills is important. However, legislation without enforcement is little more than political decoration. Delta State has produced several laws for years, yet many communities still complain about infrastructure deficits, environmental degradation, youth unemployment, and inadequate public services. In practical terms, most of the laws passed by the House of Assembly have never had direct impact on the lives of the average residents in Delta state.
If the Assembly has truly been impactful, where are the measurable outcomes?
Where are the public hearings that shook the establishment? Yes, there have been some public hearings on critical issues but where are the impacts of the public hearings?
Where are the investigations by the house that exposed waste among members of the executive? Where are the oversight reports that forced government agencies to improve performance? Where are the major policy debates that captured public attention? Gone are the days where Delta state House of assembly was called the most vibrant House of assembly in Nigeria. Those were the days of Victor Ochei. After his exit, the house lost its beauty and vibrancy.
The reality is that most Deltans know the governor. Many know local government chairmen. But very few can name the accomplishments of the state legislature in terms of impact on the lives of the ordinary Deltans. That is not necessarily because the lawmakers have done nothing. It may simply mean their work has failed to create visible results that resonate with ordinary citizens. Any law made that has no impact on the lives of the ordinary people is equal to nullity.
Supporters of Guwor argue that the House has been productive, passing laws and maintaining stability. Critics say stability without accountability is merely silence.
The greatest indictment may not be that the Assembly has failed. It may be that its successes are so invisible that the average citizen cannot feel the impact of the reported success.
As the current Assembly moves further into its tenure within the next one year, the challenge before Speaker Emomotimi Guwor is not to pass more bills. It is to prove that those bills matter. The house must pass bills that have direct impact on lives of regular Delta people. There’s a difference between passing laws and passing laws that affect people, making them know that they have representatives in the state House of assembly.
Because in the end, legislative success is not measured by the number of laws passed. It is measured by the number of lives changed. It is measured by the number of communities impacted, it is measured by how it has changed the people’s way of life and their economic wellbeing. Without these, our laws are useless to the people of Delta state.
And that is where the real debate begins.
For balance, it should be noted that reports from the Assembly indicate that more than a dozen bills have been considered, several laws have been enacted, annual appropriation bills have been passed, and the House has highlighted disability protection and anti-human-trafficking legislation as major achievements. Whether those legislative outputs have produced sufficient real-world impact remains a matter of political debate.
The house must wake up to a more robust and people oriented laws, laws that will transform the economic lives of the people, the security of lives and property, laws that will create opportunity for good and durable infrastructure and better life for all Deltans.
