The Nigerian National Assembly upon resumption from its 5 weeks end of the year recess highlighted areas it intends to concentrate on and fast track in the next six months.
President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan after a closed-door meeting with other members of the red chamber presented a six-point agenda.
“The senate further resolves to fast track the passage of Petroleum Industry Bill, Amendment of the Electoral Act, Power Sector Reform to provide more energy to Nigerians, Solid Minerals Development Strategies, and Agricultural Enhancement across Nigeria”.
From June 2019 when the 9th Assembly was inaugurated to December 2019 the National Assembly passed crucial amendments to the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act 1993, it passed 2020- 2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF-FSP), the Finance Bill, the 2020 Appropriation Bill, the Public Procurement Act Bill, and the 2020 Appropriation of FCT.
Petroleum Industry Bill
The oil and gas sector is Nigeria’s main source of foreign exchange earnings needs contributing significantly to revenue generation. Yet, for over four decades, this sector has operated under outdated and often misinterpreted laws.
The Petroleum Industry Bill is an all-encompassing piece of legislation into which was inserted new provisions in respect of about 16 pieces of existing legislation. It is meant to be a game-changer—to significantly impact the regulation and administration of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector but it had faced several potholes.
The 9th senate, however, says it is more determined to start work on the PIB immediately.
“The previous attempts in the 6th, 7th, and 8th assembly sessions to pass the bills failed. This senate should learn from the mistakes that mitigated the successful passage of the bills. We need to break the jinks that worked against the passage of the previous bills” Lawan said.
The petroleum industry bill when passed is expected to encourage investments into the oil and gas sector in the country.
Amendment of the Electoral Act, another Lips Service
The senate will amend the Electoral Act after three attempts that have failed, as President Muhammadu Buhari declined assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill citing drafting issues among other reasons for rejecting the bill.
“It is important that the national assembly starts work to effect amendments in those areas of our electoral processes and procedures that pose some real challenges to free, fair and credible elections in our previous elections” Lawan revealed.
The latest bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act No. 6, 2010 and for other related matters, 2019 (SB. 122)” has scaled second reading in the senate. The bill was sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege (APC- Delta) and co-sponsored by Sen. Abubakar Kyari (APC- Borno) was read for the first time on the floor of the upper legislative chamber on Oct. 29.
The bill seeks to compel INEC to accommodate new technologies in the accreditation of voters during elections, the reduction of nomination fees charged by political parties amongst other amendments.
Power, Solid Minerals, Agriculture Bills
The senate reveals it will collaborate with the executive on the Power, Solid Minerals and Agric Bills.
The president of the senate says:
“Before we went on our recess the senate held round table discussions on the power, agriculture and solid mineral sectors intending to identify the challenges militating against the optimum performance by those sectors. The reports of the discussions are ready and would be presented to the senate by the appropriate committees. The reports will be deliberated in plenary and necessary resolutions will be taken. Ultimately, there will be shared responsibilities between the legislature and the executive on the way forward to address the various bottlenecks”.
This move is necessary as the power, solid minerals and agricultural sectors are underperforming despite having the potential to create an alternative revenue source for the country.
Insecurity
The alarming state of insecurity also made the to-do-list of the upper chamber of the national assembly.
“There is an urgent need for a paradigm shift and reform of the architecture and structure of our security systems, equally important is the citizen participation and collaboration in providing security. In this regard, the Senate will engage the executive arm of government to discuss the implementation of the recently launched National Security Strategy (NSS) 2019”
The National Security Strategy (NSS) 2019 which is due for review after every five years will emphasize human security to enhance the social wellbeing of the citizenry.
The new strategy is aimed to tackle transnational organized crimes such as terrorism, illegal oil-bunkering, crude oil theft, illegal fishing, kidnapping, hostage-taking, armed robbery, cyber-crime, and smuggling.
It is also to address the issues of money laundering, financial crimes, drug peddling, human trafficking, piracy, environmental pollution and proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons. The senate president, Ahmed Lawan also revealed that the senate is fully behind community policing…
“For a long time, major stakeholders in the country in the security of our nation and police authorities appear to achieve consensus on the necessity of the introduction of community policing in the country. The Senate is going to pursue the implementation of community policing vigorously, to this end, the police authorities will be invited to brief and update the senate on the progress made so far” Lawan said.
It can be recalled that six south-western governors had come together to create a security operation tagged “Amotekun” to curb the insecurity in the region but was faced with the legality of the outfit in a back and forth altercation with the federal government.
Boko Haram Terrorists and Bandits regain supreme in the country to the detriment of the common Nigerian. It is hoped that the promises of the lawmakers do not remain a well-written statement on paper.
