By Abang Dove<\/p>\n
The month of November has been a busy but eventful one in the Nigerian
\nSenate. Lots of Bills were presented and a few other motions passed. Out
\nof all the Bills presented, a number of them also passed for second
\nreading.<\/p>\n
Some of these Bills presented to the house include:<\/p>\n
1. FCT University of Science and Technology, Abaji, (Est. etc) Bill,
\n2015 (SB. 59) by Senator Philip Aduda (FCT)<\/p>\n
This Bill seeks to establish the Federal Capital Territory University of
\nScience and Technology to develop and offer academic and professional
\ntraining particularly in the field of sciences and to act as a catalyst
\nfor the technological advancement of the country.<\/p>\n
2. A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Forestry Research Institute of
\nNigeria Act, 1973 and Re-enact the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria
\nfor other Matters connected therewith, 2015; (Sb. 14) by Senator Uche
\nEkwunife (Anambra Central)<\/p>\n
This Bill seeks to make the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria more
\nfocused and target oriented. Similar institutions like the Raw Material
\nResearch and Development Council, Agric Research Council, and Nigeria
\nInstitute of Social and Economic Research, have all repealed and
\nre-enacted the laws establishing them. Hence, the effort to re-enact the
\nFRIN bill for more productivity.
\nWhen re-enacted, the bill will also avail the Institute the following:
\ntraining, research and capacity building, collaborations with local and
\ninternational organizations as well as business communities. It will also
\nenable the Institute maximize her potentials in areas like; tree planting,
\nresearch into biodiversity of indigenous and exotic tree species,
\nbiological control of gully erosion sites and lots more.<\/p>\n
3. North East Development Commission (Est, etc) Bill, 2015 (SB. 163) by
\nSenator Ali Ndume (Senate Leader) and all other 17 North East Senators.<\/p>\n
This Bill seeks the establishment of North East Development Commission
\n(NEDC) with the mission to restore the areas devastated by insurgency.
\nThis can be achieved by facilitating the rapid and sustainable development
\nof the Northeast into a region that is economically prosperous, socially
\nstable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful.<\/p>\n
Also, plans such as:<\/p>\n
– Surveying the North East in order to ascertain measures
\nnecessary to promote its physical and socio-economic development.<\/p>\n
– Formulation of policies and guidelines for the development of
\nthe area.<\/p>\n
– Conception, planning and implementation, in accordance with set
\nrules and regulations, of projects and programs for sustainable
\ndevelopment of the North East in the areas of transportation, health,
\nemployment, industrialization, agriculture and fisheries, housing and
\nurban development, water supply, electricity and telecommunications, etc.
\nwill be implemented.<\/p>\n
4. Frivolous Petitions (Prohibition, etc) Bill, 2015 (SB. 143) by
\nSenator Bala Ibn Na\u2019Allah (Kebbi South)<\/p>\n
This Bill seeks to prohibit unserious formal written requests, appealing
\nto the Senate in respect of a particular cause in forms of petitions.<\/p>\n
A typical example of this is a petition that was brought to the Senate and
\nforwarded to the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.
\nThis petition was from one Engr. Adamu Suleiman Yakubu against the
\nNational University Commission (NUC) for alleged unlawful dismissal from
\nservice. After the case was read out to the Committee by the Deputy
\nExecutive Secretary of NUC, Ibrahim Yahaya who stood in for Executive
\nSecretary of NUC, Julius Okojie, it was then discovered that Engr. Adamu
\nSuleiman Yakubu was found culpable for forged documents, lies and of
\nquestionable character.<\/p>\n
This led to Senator Dino Melaye dissociating himself from the petition.<\/p>\n
5. National Youth Service Corps (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (SB. 147) by
\nSenator Stella Oduah (Anambra North)<\/p>\n
This Bill seeks for the amendment of the NYSC Act, to provide that members
\nof the service corps shall not be posted to states where conflict exists.
\nIt also further provides that members of the service who are posted to
\nstates where conflict exists or suddenly erupts may reject the posting.<\/p>\n
To provide adequate security for all members of the Corps assigned to
\nstates for the duration of the service: the evacuation to safety and
\nrehabilitation of members of the corps in states where conflict arises.<\/p>\n
The Bill also seeks to provide that no corps member who has been duly
\nposted to any Ministry, Department or Agency of Government shall be
\nrejected by such public establishment.<\/p>\n
6. Confirmation of Ministerial Nominees with assigned Portfolios Bill
\n2015 (SB. 139) by Senator Suleiman Nazif (Bauchi North)<\/p>\n
This Bill seeks for the President to attach Portfolios of ministerial
\nnominees to their names before forwarding them to the National Assembly
\nfor screening and confirmation. The intent of the Bill is to ensure that
\nnational interest is protected in every transition to power and to
\nstrengthen government and ensure that round pegs are placed in round
\nholes.<\/p>\n
7. Constituencies Development Catalyst Fund Bill, 2015 (SB. 103) by
\nSenator Buhari Abdulfatai (Oyo North)<\/p>\n
This Bill seeks to foster the creation of Constituency projects to ensure
\na minimum presence of government in every constituency by having some
\ngrassroots project sited in each, during the budgeting process.
\nLegislators will merely require identifying projects that they wish to be
\nsited in their constituencies for inclusion in the budget, with a
\nfinancial ceiling for the budgetary provisions for such projects in each
\nconstituency.<\/p>\n
8. Renewable Energy Bill 2015 SB. 131 by Senator Stella Oduah (Anambra
\nNorth)<\/p>\n
Renewable energy has an important role to play in meeting the future
\nenergy needs in both rural and urban areas. The development and
\nutilization of renewable energy should be given a high priority,
\nespecially in the light of increased awareness of the adverse
\nenvironmental impacts of fossil-based generation. The need for sustainable
\nenergy is rapidly increasing in the world. A widespread use of renewable
\nenergy is important for achieving sustainability in the energy sectors in
\nboth developing and industrialized countries.<\/p>\n
This Bill seeks to develop, promote and harness the Renewable Energy (RE)
\nresources of the country and incorporate all viable ones into the national
\nenergy mix.
\nAlso, the Bill further seeks to promote decentralized energy supply,
\nespecially in rural areas, based on RE resources; de-emphasize and
\ndiscourage the use of wood as fuel; promote efficient methods in the use
\nbiomass energy resources and keep abreast of international developments in
\nRE technologies and applications.<\/p>\n
9. Minerals and Mining Act, 2007 (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (SB. 138) by
\nSenator Nneji Athan Achonu (Imo North)<\/p>\n
This Act seeks to amend Minerals and Mining Act, 2007 Bill to vet in the
\nstate government ownership right of solid minerals found in their States.<\/p>\n
10. Companies Income Tax Act (Amendment) Bill 2015 (SB. 140) by Senator
\nAndy Emmanuel Uba (Anambra South)<\/p>\n
This Bill seeks to amend the Companies Income Tax Act Cap C21 LFN 2004 to,
\namong other things, make for tax incentives for economic growth and
\ncreation of employment opportunities and makes it more responsive to the
\ntax reform policies of the Federal Government and enhances its
\nimplementation and effectiveness.<\/p>\n
11. Communication Service Tax Bill, 2015 (SB. 164) by Senator Ali Ndume
\n(Senate Leader)<\/p>\n
Service tax, by the government, is a tax levied on service providers for
\ncertain service transactions, but is actually borne by the customers.<\/p>\n
This bill seeks to levy service providers on certain service transactions.<\/p>\n
In the past week, the inaugurations of the various standing committees of
\nthe Senate were concluded, among other bold steps taken by the 8th senate,
\nin the period under review.<\/p>\n
The Saraki-led senate is truly to be commended for the way and manner the
\ncommittees were selected. Since the commencement of the fourth Republic
\nand indeed the first time in the history of the composition of the various
\nSenate Committees that the upper chamber has witnessed such show of
\nmaturity, unlike the confusion that was experienced at the lower chamber.<\/p>\n
It is also pertinent to know that most Committees of the Red Chamber,
\nimmediately after their inauguration, commenced their full legislative
\noversight functions.<\/p>\n
Abang Dove writes from Abuja and she tweets @abangdove<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Abang Dove The month of November has been a busy but eventful one in the Nigerian Senate. Lots of Bills were presented and a few other motions passed. Out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n