Senate Passes 11 Bills In One Year, Collecting Billions

It was time for stock taking in the Senate. Senators took turns to review their activities in a special session to mark the one year anniversary of the inauguration of the eighth Senate on Thursday.

The 8th Senate was inaugurated on June 9, 2015, after the Proclamation by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Some Senators who spoke were upbeat in their comments, it was curious that leaders of the Senate Unity Forum, a group of Senators who opposed the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President, kept mum.

In all, the Senate passed only 11 bills in one year.

Committee on Rules and Business chairman Senator Babajide Omoworare, said the 11 bills were among the 300 bills brought before in the Senate.

He said 189 bills were at the first reading stage; 54 have been read second time and referred to committees.

He noted that several others were awaiting publication in the journal; three withdrawn to be represented by the sponsors while one was negatived.

In the House of Reps, Speaker Yakubu Dogara said they passed 85 bills out of the 685 bills received.

“About 98 per cent (675) of them were members’ bills, 10 executive bills and out of the bills, 416 are awaiting second reading.

“One hundred and thirty bills have been referred to committees; three are awaiting consideration and it is instructive to observe that 85 of these bills have been passed by the House so far,’’ he said.

Dogara said the number of bills introduced in the last one year represented the highest annual consideration of bills by the House since the return to democratic governance in 1999.