The legacy of 10 state governors, like that of President Bola Tinubu, himself a FLEX, will be substantially determined by the fact of their transition from the legislature to the executive branch of government.
OrderPaper, Nigeria’s foremost independent parliamentary monitoring organisation and policy think tank that bridges the gap between people and parliament, is set to launch a special performance rating for governors who were lawmakers.
This was revealed in a new report which focuses on the transition of politicians ‘From the Legislature to the Executive (FLEX), as a niche edition of OrderPaper’s Quarterly Policy Review (QPR) series.
According to the QPR report, a knowledge product of OrderPaper, the legacy of 10 state governors, like that of President Bola Tinubu, himself a FLEX, will be substantially determined by the fact of their transition from the legislature to the executive branch of government.
The state governors are Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa; Bassey Otu of Cross River; Umar Bago of Niger; Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta; and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi. Others are Douye Diri of Bayelsa, Hope Uzodimma of Imo, Ademola Adeleke of Osun, Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi, and Uba Sani of Kaduna. In addition, there are three deputy governors of Bayelsa, Bauchi and Akwa Ibom, which produced the lone female FLEX in the class of governors and deputies.
In a statement, Oke Epia, Founder/Executive Director of OrderPaper Nigeria, said the FLEX report delves into critical but hitherto unexplored facets of Nigeria’s governance architecture and sheds light on the intricate dynamics between the legislature and executive branches of government, adding that the work presents a challenge to academics and research institutions, policymakers, media practitioners and public analysts, among others, to deep dive into the phenomenon in a bid to enhance governance and democracy in Nigeria.
“FLEX is our modest contribution to the quest for democratic accountability in Nigeria, laying a solid and objective basis to not only gauge the democratic temperament of the current administration, specifically in its checks-and-balance relationship with the legislature, but also measure the ongoing stewardship and legacy of President Tinubu and the state governors concerned,” Epia said.
“At the sub-national level, the report identifies ten state governors elected into office from the National and State Assemblies, thereby creating a common denominator for a specialised performance rating regarding governance and relationship with their state legislatures.”
Revealing that OrderPaper will partner with relevant stakeholders to establish FLEX as a viable performance-tracking platform, he announced that the publication can be accessed online via https://orderpaper.ng/flex/
Similarly, Dr Dakuku Peterside, former Member of the House of Representatives and ex-DG/CEO of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), challenged FLEXes to live up to public expectations by bringing their “experience and exposure in parliament to smoothen relations between branches and advance the delivery of policy outputs that fulfil democratic dividends,” and not “become instruments of wilful and inordinate subjugation of the legislature and, by extension, undermine the core principles of separation of powers and checks and balances upon which modern-day democracy is built.”
