Here is a new battlefield between the Senate and Reps

Weeks after the upper legislative chamber unveiled its social media pages thus connecting directly with millions of Nigerians, the House of Representatives has yet to follow suit.

Both chambers started the legislative session with a declaration for what they called #OpenNASS – an hashtag that was promoted by mostly leaders of the legislature. With #OpenNASS, they promised to throw their lawmaking activities open to their constituents for scrutiny in the next four years.

The Senate, in line with the pledge, signed up on Twitter and Facebook in August, leaving the Green Chamber behind in the race digital engagement adoption.  

Through its @NGRSenate, the Senate does not only inform Nigerians of its decisions but it also educates them on its constitutional mandate. The platform, supported by its Facebook page, also serves as a ‘diary’ where the legislature records its daily routines.

While the Red Chamber has gone ‘social’ as it were, it remains their junior colleagues – who by virtue of their youthfulness are closer to the Internet age – to join the fast-growing instant messaging culture.

And as it stands, the House of Representatives may be losing some points in this aspect. The Senate already has its tweets streaming on nass.gov.ng, a website jointly used by the two chambers.

   

The competition among politicians and political institutions is not just about who gets what position anymore. Just recently, politicians began to take their online profiles more seriously.

They may have been inspired by the role the Internet played during the 2015 general elections. Key presidential candidates rolled out different online strategies in a bid to reach millions of voters. Governorship elections of some states, including Lagos, were, to a large extent, driven by online.

  

At governorship level, the competition for digital media leadership that started during the campaigns has not been sustained, at least, not yet. However, a few governors, such as Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna and his Lagos counterpart, Ambode Akinwunmi, have distinguished themselves clearly on Twitter and Facebook.

But at the National Assembly, getting an online popularity is like a big deal. While the eighth session of the Assembly had yet to be inaugurated, its members had taken their spaces on different platforms. Even those who were not visible on the digital space during the 2015 election campaigns are embracing the culture.

At least three senators, including @FatimatRasaki, had posted on @NGRSenate and @BukolaSaraki in the last few weeks to ‘advertise’ their arrival on the micro-blogging forum. With more and more of senator going online, pastime on social media appears to be getting merrier for the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his colleagues.

Some members of the House of Representatives are beginning to catch up with the trend anyway. The Twitter page of the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, was almost invisible until the commencement of the politics of National Assembly leadership.

Today, Dogara enjoys considerable popularity on social media, though his social media communication style is not as regular as that of Saraki. For instance, he has not tweeted since after October 1, 2015 when he used his platform to send a goodwill to Nigeria at its 55th anniversary.  

“This period calls for sober reflection and Nigerians should not relent in their prayers for the unity and indivisibility of the country,” tweeted Dogara.

Weighed against the Senate President, who has gone as far as responding to individual inquiries, the Speaker is several miles behind. But, at least, he is doing better than a lot other Nigerian politicians, especially governors. 

The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, one of the few individuals that pioneered the use of social media in the political circle, enjoys a huge following on Twitter and Facebook. A number of other ‘honourables’ have also adopted social media.

But unlike the Senate, the Dogara-led chamber has yet to sign up an account on any of the networking sites in fulfillment of its claim to open debate.

Save for the shared nass.gov.ng, the lower chamber, as an institution, is cut off from the unlimited digital space. Managed by the National Assembly Service Commission, nass.gov.ng serves the communication needs of both chambers.