SENATE PASSES 5 BILLS, GOES ON RECESS
The Senate has concurred and passed five bills emanating from the House of Representatives.
The pieces of legislation are the Vigilante Establishment Bill, Legislative Scrutiny Bill, Courts and Tribunals Fines and Financial Penalties Bill.
Others are the Radiographers’ Registration Amendment Bill, and the Medical Residency Training Bill.
Executive requests for the confirmation of nine Resident Electoral Commissioners for INEC and the confirmation of Alhaji Ibrahim Rufa’i as the Grand Khadi of the Shari’ah Court of Appeal in Abuja have been referred to the relevant Senate committees for further legislative action.
Similarly, the Establishment Bill of the Federal Polytechnic, Mpu, in Enugu State, slated for Second Reading, has been referred to the relevant committee to report back in two weeks.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly has adjourned plenary for Christmas and New Year breaks.
According to the principal officers of the two chambers, committees will resume on the ninth of January, while plenary recommences on the sixteenth of the same month.
Referral on 19 Bills
In the meantime, Seventeen Committees of the House of Representatives were today discharged of their responsibilities on Referral on 19 Bills.
This followed the inability of the Committees to conduct public Hearing on the Bills referred to them after passing second reading on the floor of the House.
Raising the motion to remove the Committees from further work on the Bill, the Chairman House Committee on Rules and Business, Orker Jev during plenary said that the inability of the Committees to turn in report on the Bills referred since 2015 and 2016 was contrary to Order Seventeen, Rule 3 of the Standing Orders of the House, which allows for the maximum of 60 days for the Committees to submit their reports.
The Committee in the Federal Capital tops the list in the number of Bills referred without reports on them followed by the Committee on Interior.
In another development, the House mandated its Committee on Agricultural Production and services as well as Banking to investigate the level of release, Cumulative contributions and level of implementation of the Cassava Bread Fund Programme.
This followed a motion on the need to investigate the matter,sponsored by Ayokunle Isiaka.
Also to be included in the investigation is the losses suffered by Cassava Bread Growers Association and the value chain with a view to compensating the Association and encouraging its members.
The Report of the Committee is expected to be submitted.
