Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Senate will resume plenary today, March 12, 2019, with the approval of the new National Minimum Wage Bill, 2019-2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP), N8.83 trillion 2019 Budget and other critical bills on top of its agenda.
The Senate will also be reconsidering some critical bills earlier rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari. These include the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill, Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) (Amendment) Bill, National Research and Innovation Council (Est.) Bill, National Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (Est.) Bill, National Agricultural Seeds Council Bill, Chartered Institute of Entrepreneurship (Est.) Bill, among others, as well as five constitution amendment bills.
The lawmakers’ resumption was earlier billed for February 19, 2019, but had to be postponed to February 26 after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) moved date for the Presidential and National Assembly elections by one week.
On February 26, however, lawmakers adjourned plenary by two weeks due to the absence of the constitutionally required one-third of senators (37 lawmakers) needed for the session to hold.
Prior to the adjournment, Senate President Bukola Saraki had assured that the Minimum Wage Bill would receive speedy consideration upon resumption.
“By the time we resume (on March 12), the new National Minimum Wage Bill will be the first item for consideration. And I am sure that because of the importance of it, and the feedback I have received from a lot of our colleagues is that they also want to contribute personally to the debate,” Saraki had said.
However, in line with parliamentary practice, the Senate will again adjourn plenary till Wednesday following the demise of Temitope Olaoye ‘Sugar’, a serving member of the House of Representatives.
The lawmaker who represented Lagelu/Akinyele Federal Constituency of Oyo State was reportedly shot in the eye by unknown gunmen in Ibadan during the March 9 governorship and state assembly elections.
It would be recalled that on January 29, the House of Representatives passed and raised the Minimum Wage from N18,000 to N30,000. The bill has since been transmitted to the Senate for concurrence, even as all eyes are now on the Senate Adhoc Committee on the New National Minimum Wage Bill, chaired by Senate Majority Whip Sola Adeyeye (APC, Osun), to submit its report.
However, it remains to be seen if the committee would submit its report upon resumption as members of the panel are yet to meet as of the time of filing this report on Monday.
“Our chairman is out of the country to attend to his health. As I speak to you, the committee is yet to meet. We could not meet on three occasions prior to the general elections because we could not form quorum as our members were still battling with their reelection. At the moment, most of our members are still in their constituencies,” a member of the committee who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent.
Another issue that will take centre stage is the legislative approval of the 2019 to 2021 MTEF/FSP as well as the 2019 budget.
The MTEF/FSP, which provides the framework for the budget, was transmitted to both chambers of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 6, 2018 for consideration and approval.
In the same token, he presented the 2019 budget to both legislative chambers on December 19, 2018.
Now that the elections are over, analysts expect that lawmakers will immediately get back to work and approve the proposals already pending before them before the end of the Eighth National Assembly in June this year.
Clement Nwankwo, executive director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, called on lawmakers to also revisit the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill.
Although the President had rejected the proposal passed by the National Assembly on four occasions, Nwankwo told BusinessDay in an interview that lawmakers could still pass and transmit the bill to the President within the remaining period of the Eighth National Assembly.
“The amendments to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill was dropped off by the President on the excuse that it was too late in the day. I think it would be important at this stage if the National Assembly can revisit it and pass it back to the President for assent while we do the post-mortem on the elections and come up with decisions on how to go forward,” said Nwankwo, who doubles as convener of the Civil Society Situation Room, a coalition of over 70 civil society organisations in Nigeria.
Political observers had noted that if the President had signed the bill into law, it would have eliminated some of the controversies that marred the 2019 general election including the manual transmission of results.
“The Electoral Act provides for the electronic transmission of results from the polling units. The manual collation is subject to manipulation by politicians. It is a shame that after 20 years of uninterrupted democratic journey, we are yet to reform our electoral laws to conform with global best practices,” Kelechi Uzendu, a legal practitioner, said.
Nwankwo also called on lawmakers to pass other critical bills pending in the National Assembly, adding that one of the most urgent, the Police Bill that has gone to public hearing, is at Third Reading stage.
“I think it is important for the National Assembly to try to look at this and try to pass the Police Bill. It is very critical for it to do so,” Nwankwo said.
“There are several other bills that are pending. Some have been passed in the House of Representatives, some have been passed in the Senate. This needed to be harmonised. And as the Eight National Assembly winds down, they should have several of these bills passed before June,” he said.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
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