8th Senate Valedictory: Number Of Bills Passed By Each Senate

Ilesanmi AdekanbiJune 6, 2019

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As the 8th National Assembly officially winds up today, June 6, ahead of June 11 inauguration of the 9th NASS, Newsflash247 has taken pain to research and compile the number of bills passed by each Senate starting from the 5th Senate till date.

Find below, the number of bills passed by each Senate as compiled by Newsflash247

8th Senate: 318
7th Senate: 128
6th Senate: 72
5th Senate: 129

We have also documented some key bills passed by the red chamber but declined by the Muhammadu Buhari led administration.

Key Bills Declined Assent By President Buhari

1. Electoral Amendment Bill:
– Rejected four times.
– The last reason being that if signed into law, it was going to be injurious to the recently concluded general elections. According to the president, some of the proposed amendments may adversely affect the operation of elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He also said the bill had the unintended consequence of leaving INEC with only nine days to collate and compile lists of candidates and political parties as well as manage the primaries of the 91 political parties for the various elections.

2. Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB): Cited legislative drafting concerns and ambiguity. As well as saying that expanding the scope of Petroleum Equalisation Fund were in divergence from his administration’s policy. As well as permitting the Petroleum Regulatory Commission to retain as much as 10 per cent of the revenue generated would put a burden on the three tiers of government.

3. Bill Seeking to Amend the Constitution for an annual State of the Nation Address by the President:
Buhari said Section 7 of the bill might need to be redrafted to clearly indicate that it is Section 109 (1) (e) of the Constitution that was being amended.
“Also, there are existing laws that cater for legislative Service Commissions. Finally, prescribing a specific date in the 1999 Constitution for an annual State of the Nation Address may create practical challenges in diarizing this event”, he said.

4. Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Amendment Bill:
The president claimed that he took the action to enable ongoing consultations by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment with relevant agencies on tax holidays incentive regime for expansion projects, investments in rural areas as well as for agriculture/agro-processing to be included.

5. Immigration (Amendment) Bill:
The president claimed that he did so because it will have adverse effect on Nigeria’s position on the Ease of Doing Business ranking.

6. Chartered Institute of Pension Practitioners Bill:
The president claimed that this Bill amounted to the duplication of the functions of an existing body.

7. Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (Amendment) Bill:
President Buhari claimed that because the bill will interfere with and obstruct the smooth administration of revenue generating agencies of the Federal Government aside other infractions on extant laws.
He added that if signed into law, the bill will confer the powers of oversight of the revenue currently vested in the President and the Minister of Finance on the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission and negate the existing provisions of Section 51 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

8. Maritime Security Operations Bill:
The president claimed that he refused assent because the proposed amendments will distort and duplicate the functions and operations of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

9. Bankruptcy and Insolvency Bill: Cited drafting errors.

10. Small and Medium Enterprise Agency Bill:
President Buhari declined assent by claiming that “The Agency will have similar objectives to the Bank of Industry particularly with regard to the funding of Small and Medium Enterprises.”

11. Energy Commission (Amendment) Bill:
Buhari claimed that its provisions infringe on the Rural Electrification Agency’s power and mandates with particular reference to the promotion and development of un-served and under-served rural communities across Nigeria.

12. Federal Roads Authority (Establishment) Bill:
President claimed that it would make the entire technical supervisory ministry, the Transportation Ministry, redundant.

13. Transport Commission Bills:
President claimed that he was declining assent because “safety regulatory provisions enshrined in some sections of the bill, which are technical in nature, fall within the purview of central legislations implemented by agencies like NIMASA, NPA, NIWA and therefore should be expunged from the bill.

14. Ajaokuta Steel Company Completion Fund Bill:
President claimed that appropriating $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account for funding the project as stipulated in the bill was not the best strategic option for Nigeria at this time of budgetary constraints. He stressed that Nigeria could not afford to commit such an amount in the midst of competing priorities with long term social and economic impact that the funds can be attentively deployed towards.

15. National Housing Fund Bill

16. Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria Bill 2018

17. Nigerian Aeronautical Search and Rescue Bill

18. National Biotechnology Development Agency Bill

19. National Institute of Credit Administration Bill

20. Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria Bill

21. Chartered Institute of Training and Development of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill

22. Nigerian Film Commission Bill

23. Climate Change Bill

24. Chartered Institute of Pension Practitioners Bill

25. Digital Rights and Freedom Bill

26. Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill