By Churchill Ntui
Experience in public office is only an asset when it produces measurable outcomes. When it does not, it becomes nothing more than time served without progress. After more than a decade in the National Assembly, the argument for returning Mike Etaba to the House of Representatives must be tested against evidence—not nostalgia, sentiment, or the comfort of a familiar surname on the ballot.
The National Assembly is not a retirement lounge where longevity substitutes for relevance. It is a performance-driven institution where effectiveness is measured by legislative productivity, influence on the floor, committee leadership, and the ability to translate federal presence into tangible constituency development. Second-term and third-term legislators who matter do not struggle to justify their staying power; their records speak clearly through bills sponsored, motions moved, debates led, and projects delivered. Where these indicators are absent, “experience” becomes an empty claim.
Unfortunately, what should have been a period of consolidation for Etaba has instead become a catalogue of missed opportunities. Available records from the National Assembly place him among the poorest-performing legislators in terms of bills sponsored, motions raised, and substantive contributions on the floor of the House. In a parliament where visibility and influence are earned daily through intellectual engagement and legislative activism, this underperformance is neither incidental nor excusable—it is defining.
Cross River State itself offers compelling contrasts that expose the weakness of the longevity argument. Victor Ndoma-Egba did not wait for decades to acquire relevance. By his second term, he had already risen to Deputy Senate Leader and later Senate Leader—positions earned through mastery of parliamentary procedure, strategic engagement, and unmistakable presence in national debates. Nigerians did not hear about his relevance through press releases; they watched it unfold live on the Senate floor.
Similarly, John Owan Enoh had, by his third term, become a central pillar of the House under Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, culminating in his appointment as Chairman of the Appropriation Committee—arguably the most powerful committee in the legislature. His influence was not cosmetic; it was institutional and consequential, felt both in Abuja and back home. These roles were not gifts from governors or products of executive charity; they were earned through competence and credibility.
More recently, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe demonstrated that legislative influence responds to capacity, not calendar years. As a second-term member of the House, he asserted himself nationally, built alliances, and generated enough political weight to transition to the Senate. His trajectory reinforces a simple truth: time does not manufacture influence—performance does.
Against this backdrop, it is deeply troubling that a third-term legislator would still require gubernatorial intervention to secure a committee chairmanship—particularly one as modest as Environment. After ten years in parliament, legislative capital should be self-generated. Dependence on executive benevolence is not a sign of loyalty; it is an admission of weak standing within the institution.
Members of the National Assembly are meant to complement governors, not orbit them in quiet submission. They are expected to negotiate, assert, and sometimes even challenge the executive in the interest of their constituencies—not queue around Government Houses, genuflect before “Her Excellencies,” or rely on cosmetic humility to secure political survival.
Equally damaging is the confusion of relief with development. Distributing palm oil, yam, and bags of rice in the 21st century is not empowerment; it is a poverty-maintenance strategy. Obubra/Etung does not need charity politics. It needs potable water systems, reliable electricity, functional healthcare facilities, quality schools, and infrastructure that expands opportunity and dignity. These outcomes require vision, legislative leverage, and sustained federal engagement—not seasonal handouts.
This is therefore not the time for sentiment. The suggestion that a fourth term for Etaba will somehow benefit not just the constituency but the state is a claim so thin it collapses under scrutiny. It is tempered only by a cynical awareness of the gross incompetence that has characterised his representation and the legislative vacuum it has created.
For Obubra/Etung, ten years is enough. The constituency deserves representation that commands respect in Abuja, delivers development at home, and strengthens the state’s political standing rather than leaning on it for survival. Anything less is not experience—it is stagnation, carefully dressed up as service.
Ntui, wrote in from Etung LGA.
The views expressed are entirely the writer’s.
