…says the number of passed low due to “other issues of priority”
The Nigerian Senate on Thursday disclosed that it has passed a total of 25 bills and 115 resolutions in one year.
Bamidele Opeyemi, the Senate Leader made this known in a statement to mark the first anniversary since the 10th Senate kicked off legislative activities on June 13, 2023.
As of June 11, 2024, Bamidele reported that at least 477 bills were initiated, but only 25 bills were fully passed into law while others are currently at different stages before the Senate, representing 5.24 per cent of the entire bills introduced within the timeframe.
Opeyemi, however, highlighted “other issues of highly fundamental national priority that occupied the attention of the Senate” as reasons that account for the low number of fully enacted legislations.
“Many people may measure our performance based on the number of bills that were fully passed into law. It is purely due to the imperatives of attending to other obligations as required by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999”, he stated.
According to him, aside from the 25 fully enacted legislations, no fewer than 275 bills were read the first time within the timeframe, about 135 awaiting the first reading; 45 awaiting for the second reading; 43 are currently at the committee stage and three bills were refused on different grounds.
While only 13 of the total bills originated from the executive arm, 464 are private member bills.
Apart from the bills, the Senate arrived at 115 resolutions, which Opeyemi claimed are far-reaching in consequence; profound in their significance to Nigeria’s economic development and strategic to the cohesion, growth and stability
Each of these resolutions arose from motions of national importance, which different Senators sponsored after due diligence was conducted.
Also, within the timeframe, he said the Senate received and treated petitions from members of the public on diverse matters of grave concern. Despite time constraints, the Senate Leader said 50 of the public petitions were successfully and satisfactorily resolved.
The Senate equally screened and confirmed 215 nominees for different political offices at the request of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Ahmed Tinubu and by Section 147 (2-6) of the 1999 Constitution and other Acts of the National Assembly.
Among others, the confirmations include key appointments to the Federal Executive Council, Board of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the leadership of the Nigeria Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
