Deputy Senate President Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and Minority Leader Enyinnaya Abaribe declined comment yesterday when Senate President Ahmad Lawan requested they make their remarks at a special session to mark the second anniversary of the ninth Senate.
When called to speak, Abaribe replied Lawan thus: “Thank you Mr President, but the minority leader will like to decline comments”.
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Few minutes later, Abaribe left the chamber. It was not immediately clear why he left.
Lawan, in his remarks, said about 742 bills were introduced in the Red Chamber in the last two years.
The Senate president said 58 of the bills had been passed.
He said: “355 bills have gone through first reading, 175 have gone through second reading and have been referred to the relevant committees for further legislative business, while 11 Bills referred by the House of Representatives for concurrence have also been passed.”
The bills cut across all the sectors and touch most areas of needs in the lives of our citizens, he added.
Notable among the bills passed by the Senate are: Deep Off-Shore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act CAP D3 LFN 2004 (Amendment Bill, 2009); Finance Bill 2019 (Nigeria Tax and Fiscal Law) (SB.140); Companies and Allied Matters Act, Cap C20 LFN 2004 (Repeal and Reenactment) Bill 2019 (SB.270).
Critical bills yet to be passed by the Senate are Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and Electoral Reform Bill.
Lawan said the Senate was committed to passing the bills before the embarking on annual summer recess in July.
He said among the most significant interventions of the ninth National Assembly in the economic sector was the restoration of the national annual budget to the January to December cycle.
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