Concurrence: Senate sleeping on our bills — Reps

The House of Representatives has lamented that the Senate is not living up to expectations regarding concurrence on bills passed by it.

House Leader Alhassan Ado Doguwa said there are many bills sent to the Senate for concurrence which have not been considered as provided by law.

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The Senate, however, said it could not fast track the passage of the House bills because of limited sitting time in the chamber, the COVID-19 pandemic and other legislative responsibilities.

Speaking while presenting some bills from the Senate on Wednesday, Doguwa said: “As I rise to do this, I want to put on record that this House takes seriously the issue of working together with the Senate for maximum performance.

“That is why this House has always given speedy consideration to bills passed by the Senate. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same thing about the Senate.

“We have quite a number of bills passed by this House which are still lying on the table of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business unattended to. This is a thing of concern to the leadership of this House,” he said.

Doguwa reiterated that there is the need for the two chambers to work closely and streamline their activities as components of a bicameral legislature.

In his remarks, the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase, who presided over the plenary, commended Doguwa for the concern and his call to speed up the legislative process and lawmaking.

Minority Leader of the House Rep. Ndudi Elumelu also supported Doguwa, saying the Senate should be advised to be up and doing on concurrence and consideration of bills passed by the House.

Reacting, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Sadiq Suleiman Umar, admitted that several House bills were waiting for the red chamber’s concurrence.

He said most of these bills had been scheduled in the order paper for consideration but the red chamber could not consider them due to COVID-19 pandemic, limited sitting time in the chamber, and other legislative works.

“The Senate is a busy chamber. We have many responsibilities, like confirmation of appointments by the president.

“The concurrence of bills takes a long procedure. We have to consider the bills clause by clause. Just last week, we passed two,” he said.