How Senate Passed 46 Bill

Following the passage of 46 bills passed into law the senate house was in pandemonium; in less than 10 minutes within the time 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. 

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