Senate Dismisses House of Representatives’ Claims of Legislative Delays
The Nigerian Senate has firmly rejected allegations by the House of Representatives that the upper chamber has been deliberately delaying concurrence on bills originating from the lower legislative house. Senate leaders emphasized their commitment to collaborative lawmaking while addressing the controversy during Tuesday’s plenary session.
Senate Leadership Counters Allegations
Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central) jointly refuted claims made by their House of Representatives counterparts. The dispute stems from the House’s recent decision to suspend consideration of Senate-originated bills, citing what they described as persistent delays in the upper chamber’s approval process.
“We cannot joke with concurrence bills from the House of Representatives,” Akpabio stated categorically. “It takes two hands to clap. We have been attending to the bills from the House of Representatives. We are still going to attend to them. And we will continue to work together in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.”
Recent Legislative Activity Cited
Senator Bamidele provided concrete evidence of the Senate’s responsiveness, revealing that just last week, the upper chamber had approved six House bills requiring concurrence. “For the record, we have been doing what we’re supposed to do,” Bamidele asserted during the plenary session.
The Senate Leader explained the legislative process: “We know we have the principle of reciprocity that governs our operations. But this does not necessarily mean garbage in, garbage out. We have the duty, as the foremost democratic institution in the country, to exercise due diligence on the bills.”
House of Representatives’ Original Complaint
The controversy began when the House of Representatives passed a resolution to halt consideration of Senate bills, alleging that the upper chamber had failed to act on more than 140 bills passed by the House. Many of these stalled bills were reportedly sponsored by House Speaker Hon. Abbas Tajudeen.
Daily Trust had reported the House’s position that the Senate was “deliberately stalling the legislative process” through its inaction on House-passed legislation. This move by the lower chamber marked an unusual public escalation of tensions between the two legislative bodies.
Senate’s Commitment to Due Process
Bamidele emphasized that while the Senate values legislative cooperation, it must maintain rigorous standards: “We will continue to consider concurrence bills from the House of Representatives the same way they considered our own bills. We will ensure that it is given attention in overriding public interest.”
The Senate Leader stressed the constitutional obligations guiding their actions: “We have been attending to these concurrence bills from the House of Representatives. We will continue to do what we’re supposed to do consistent with our mandates under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”
Current Legislative Business
Demonstrating their commitment to the legislative process, the Senate immediately turned to House bills requiring concurrence during Tuesday’s session. Bamidele noted that “the first two businesses of the day are concurrence bills from the House of Representatives,” underscoring their ongoing attention to lower chamber legislation.
This public exchange between Nigeria’s two legislative chambers highlights the sometimes delicate balance of power in the National Assembly, while also revealing the importance both houses place on their constitutional responsibilities and the legislative process.
Full credit to the original publisher: Daily Trust