
Allow
me to dedicate a few lines to the Constitutionality and legality of the Senate
fire brigade approach. Section 4 of the Nigerian Constitution as amended, gave
the National Assembly the express and statutory powers to regulate their
proceedings. In other words, the Constitution provides the Senate and House of
Representative with the necessary powers and backing to set and enforce their
own rules, their own guidelines, their punishment and ultimately decide their
own modus operandi. Due to this
Constitutional requirement, the National Assembly formulated some sets of
binding rules namely; the Senate Standing Order and House of Representative
rules for the Senate and House of Representatives respectively. These rule
books guides all legislative proceedings and legislators alike, any such
proceeding flaunting the set rules will be ruled out of order.
Now,
what makes the fire brigade approach legal? Since the Constitution empowers the
Senate to regulate self, the real question is, did the Senate pass those 46
Bills in accordance to the provisions of their rule book? Before you answer
that, let me take you on a little journey through the provisions of the Senate
Standing Order.
First,
Order 86(5) of the Senate Standing Order says “when a Bill originating in the Senate has been read the third time, a
printed copy of it signed by the Clerk of the Senate and endorsed by the
President of the Senate shall be forwarded by Clerk of the Senate to the Clerk
of House of Representative together with a message desiring the concurrence of
the House of Representative” This is a standard procedure always observed
by both chambers. The House with the originating Bill must have considered the
Bills before sending it to the other House for concurrence. In this situation,
the 46 Bills have been duly considered by the originating house which is the
House of Representative. The Bills have gone through the first, second and
third readings, committee level, hearings and clause by clause considerations
by the House of Representatives.
Secondly,
Order 86(6) says “When a bill which
originated in the House of Representative has been read the third time; the
Clerk of the Senate shall (a) retain the bill and send a message to the House
of Representative that the Senate has agreed to the Bill without amendments” This
provision explains the possibility of Senate not finding fault with a Bill
originating from the House of Representatives. There could be a scenario,
whereby the Senate has nothing to subtract or add by the way of amendment to
Bills originating from the green chamber. Therefore, it will be safe to say the
Senate believes the House of Representative has done a thorough job on the 46
Bills.
Thirdly,
Order 79(1) says “Every Bill shall
receive three readings previous to its passage, which each readings shall be in
different days, unless the Senate unanimously directs otherwise and the
President of the Senate shall give notice at each reading whether it is first,
second or third” This sections accords the Senate the powers to expedite
their own proceedings upon a unanimous decision. The Senate can choose to ditch
their traditional three readings in three different days, to allow three
readings in just a day.
Lastly,
Order 45(1) says “No rule shall be
suspended except by the vote of two thirds of the Senate” That is, with
required number of votes, the Senate is allowed to set aside any of their
rules. I can vividly remember that the Senate had to set aside their rules to
allow professor Jega and his entourages, who are not elected senators, access into
the red chamber. Senator Ita Enang simply moved that the Senate do suspend
their rules hindering the speedy passage of 46 Bills in one sitting. The motion
was duly seconded, question put and positive.
These
Bills are quite important and really affects an average Nigerian. It’s my job
to analyze Bills and so far Whistle Blower Bill and Sexual Offences Bill have
been very interesting and I find them very important. I promise to publish my
research analysis on this blog soon. In my opinion, I think it would have been
really sad to allow these important Bills go start afresh in the 8th
Assembly. It might just take the 8th Assembly another four years to
get this level, bearing in mind that the bulk of the 8th Assembly
legislators are first timers.
Babajide Olusola Omojola
Wonderful Opinion
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