Senators score 9th Assembly high in mid-term assessment

Senators across party lines on Wednesday scored the 9th National Assembly high during a special session held for mid-term assessment .

The 9th National Assembly comprising of the Senate and the House of Representatives was inaugurated on Tuesday, June 11, 2019, which will be exactly two years Friday June 11.

Marking the day two days earlier, senators numbering thirty who spoke one after the other, lauded the numerous legislative interventions of the National Assembly, particularly in the areas of security, economy and governance.

Taking the lead, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in a speech delivered during the special session, said a total of 742 bills were introduced by the Ninth Senate in the last two years.

According to him, out of the total number of bills introduced during the two sessions of the Assembly, 58 have been passed, while 355 bills have gone through first reading.

In addition, the Senate President further disclosed that 175 bills have also gone through second reading and have been referred to the relevant committee for further legislative business; with 11 bills referred by the House of Representatives for concurrence all passed.

According to him, “the bills cut across all the sectors and touch most areas of needs in the lives of our citizens.”

Lawan recalled that the ninth Assembly in its bid to rescue the nations’s economy, embarked on the restoration of Nigeria’s budget cycle to the January to December timeline.

The move, according to him, brought about positive outcomes which made the country’s fiscal plans more predictable and boosted investors’ confidence.

He added that the passage of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act 2004 (Amendment Bill, 2009) was intended to increase Nigeria’s share of revenue from crude oil.

“Other laws that we passed that are having significant impacts on the economy include the Finance Bill 2019 (Nigeria Tax and Fiscal Law) (SB.140), which amended seven existing tax laws.

“In our Legislative Agenda, we had also promised to create a legal environment conducive for ease of doing business.

“We kept this promise by passing the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Cap C20 LFN 2004 (Repeal and Reenactment) Bill 2019 (SB.270)”, Lawan said.
The Senate President assured that the upper chamber would, finally this month (June), pass the Petroleum Industry Bill after about 20 years of failed attempts.