The house of representatives has decline a second reading of
a bill seeking to establish the Federal Orthopaedic Hospital in Obokun, Osun
state.
The senate bill, which was listed on the Order Paper for
second reading, was rejected during Wednesday’s plenary after several lawmakers
argued that the upper legislative chamber rarely considers bills originating
from the house.
THE REJECTION
As a tradition of the house, Julius Ihonvbere, the majority
leader, moved a motion for the second reading of the bill after it was called
up by Tajudeen Abass, the speaker.
Abbas then invited Kingsley Chinda, the minority leader, to
second the motion, to which he did, but with reservations.
Chinda noted that numerous bills of the house are currently
languishing in the senate without consideration.
“I will reluctantly second the motion for the second reading
of this bill,” he said.
The dispute over the senate’s failure to consider house
bills dates back to the ninth assembly.
Lawmakers have consistently raised concerns that bills
emanating from the house are rarely given attention by the upper chamber.
Awaji-Inombek Abiante, a lawmaker from Rivers state, said
two of his bills have been in the senate since 2024.
“Mr speaker, till now, they have not been listed for
concurrence. The same thing happened to my bills in the 9th assembly, where
throughout that assembly, the senate did not consider the bills that were
passed from the house and sponsored by me,” he said.
“I do not know how we will continue with this kind of
relationship, Mr speaker. Well, let it not look as if we are slowing down the
progress of governance in this country.
“We should step down the consideration of this bill. And
probably, you will find out from them what the problems and the challenges are
and why they do not consider bills coming from the house of representatives. If
the reasons are not cogent enough, we should reciprocate.”
Also speaking, Ahmed Jaha, a lawmaker from Borno state, said
the senate do not consider bills from the house “in most cases”.
He suggested that the house committee on rules and business
and that of the senate should sign a deal to ensure they consider bills from
both chambers.
At this point, Abbas interjected him, noting that similar
arrangement had failed in the past.
“The clerk told that we have 146 bills that are with the
senate. And I, as a person, have more than 10 bills. Some have been there for
more than six months. We don’t know what is really happening,” Abbas said.
Other lawmakers who spoke on the matter also called for the
bill to be thrown out.
Consequently, Abbas asked Chinda if he was willing to
withdraw his secondment of the motion — a request he accepted.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com