ABUJA — THE Senate was thrown into rowdy session,
yesterday, following the passage of 46 bills into law less than 10 minutes they
were introduced by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business,
Senator Ita Enang.
The 46 bills had recently been passed by the House of
Representatives and transmitted to the Senate for concurrence.
Before the passage, the Senate had said the life of
the 7th Assembly would expire in few days time and that enough resources had
already been expended in processing the bills, hence there was the need to pass
them and forward same to the President for his assent.
Consequently, the Red Chamber invoked Order 1 (b) of
the Senate Standing Order 2011 as amended to adopt a special procedure on the
bills for concurrence.
Besides, the Senate suspended Order 79 (1) of the
Senate Standing Orders and deemed that all the bills as having passed first,
second and third readings on the floor of the Senate and concurred same as well
as reproduced and circulated them to Senators.
According to Enang, the “bills by this resolution are
hereby read and deemed read a third time and passed, to be transmitted to the
President for assent in accordance with the Acts (Authentication) Act, and the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
“That the votes and proceedings containing all bills
be produced for adoption, as passed by the House.”
Uproar in the chamber
But immediately after the Senate President put the
bills to voice vote where the “ayes” had their way, there was uproar in the
chamber as some senators, especially Senator Domingo Obende, Edo State, and
George Sekibo, Rivers State, opposed the passage of the bills in less than ten
minutes.
Senator Mark’s efforts to calm down frayed nerves
could not yield any positive results and he then told the aggrieved Senators,
who did not agree with the passage of the bills, to write their names and
signatures so that it would be looked at again today.
46 bills passed
The Senate
The 46 bills are: Tertiary Education Trust Fund
(Establishment etc) Act (Amendment), 2015; Office of the Nigerian Financial
Ombudsman Bill; Institute of Chartered Trustees of Nigeria Bill; National
Convicts and Criminal Records (Registry) Bill, 2015; Community Service Bill;
People’s Bank of Nigeria Act (Repeal) Bill and Nigerian Bank for Commerce and
Industry Act (Repeal).
Others are National Commission for Rehabilitation Act
(Repeal) Bill; Maintenance Orders Act (Repeal) Bill, 2015; Federal Saving Bank
Act (Repeal) Bill 2015; Loan (State Development) Act (Repeal), 2015; Nigerians
in Diaspora (Establishment) Commission, 2015; Electronic Transactions Bill,
2015; and Chartered Institute of Statiscians of Nigeria, 2015.
Also passed are the Nigerian Metallurgical Industry
Bill, 2014, Federal Audit Commission Bill, 2015, National Centre for
Agricultural Mechanisation Act (Amendment,) Bill, Nigerian International
Financial Centre (Establishment, etc) Bill, Investment and Securities
(Amendment) Bill and Nigerian Communications Satellite, Bill, Federal Capital
Territory Education Resources Centre (Establishment) Bill; Labour Institutions
(Establishment); Witness Protection Programme Bill; Institute of Mediators and
Conciliators Bill; Legal Education Act (Establishment) Bill; National Health
Insurance Commission Bill; National Economic Intelligence Committee
(Establishment) Act (Repeal) Bill.
The rest include Federal College Dental Technology and
Therapy Bill, Federal Capital Territory College of Nursing and Midwifery Bill,
Oaths Act (Amendment) Bill, Federal Capital Territory Hospital Management Board
(Establishment) Bill, Passport (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Bill,
Chartered Institute of Management Accounts of Nigeria.
Also passed are Federal Capital Territory Water Board
(Establishment) Bill, Institute of Local Government and Public Administration
Bill, Whistle-blower Protection Bill, Family Economic Advancement Programme
(Establishment, etc) 2015, Family Support Trust Fund Act (Repeal) Bill,
Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (Guarantee) Act (Repeal) Bill, Treasury
Management Bill 2015; Legislative Powers and Privileges Act (Repeal and
Re-Enactment) Bill, Anti-Torture Bill, 2015; Lobbyist (Registration and
Regulation) Bill, National Hospital for Women and Children, Abuja
(Establishment, etc) Act (Amendment) Bill, Nigerian Prisons Act CAP, P29 LFN
2004 (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill 2015 and Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry
Content Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill 2015.
In an interview with Vanguard, Senator Enang
said: “We decided to bring this now because we do not have any more time to do
the legislative duties to take and conclude it.
“It has been passed, it was thoroughly examined by the
House of Representatives. Those ones that we have passed which some people may
say we did not thoroughly examine, the House has passed them believing that we
thoroughly examined them.
“I chair the Rules and Business Committee, I have
examined all these bills, I circulated all the copies to all the Senators.”
On why the bills were coming together when the life
span of the 7th Senate expires in two days, Senator Enang said: “It is coming
now because it is only today that we have, and if we do not, all the Bills would
have become rubbish. These bills will be transmitted to the President for
assent.”
He said with the passage of bills, the total number of
bills passed by the Senate had increased to over 100.
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