Senate re-introduces bill to establish South-East Development Commission, stands down bill on inauguration of NASS

The Senate on Wednesday at plenary re-introduced a bill seeking to establish the South-East Development Commission (SEDC).
The bill, which scaled first reading on the floor, was passed by the 8th Senate but failed to receive presidential assent.
Clause 15 (2a) of the bill which identifies source of funding for the commission, stipulates that the equivalent of 10 per cent of the total monthly statutory allocation due to the member states of the commission shall be from the federation account.
The bill sponsored by Senator Stella Oduah (PDP, Anambra) also seeks the establishment of a governing board for the commission which shall include one person for the other geopolitical zones in the country.
The Senate also considered two bills seeking to establish the Modibo Adama University, Yola, and Federal Polytechnic Aba, respectively.
Sponsor of the bill to establish the Modibo Adama University, Sen. Aishatu Dahiru (APC Adamawa), said the university was established in 1981 as a Federal University of Technology.
According to the lawmaker, the University’s inherent statutory limitation exposed it to a lot of disadvantages thereby making it impossible to meet the needs of its historic state.
Dahiru lamented that the limitation adversely affected female students’ demography.
“According to statistics from the universities, there has been a 40 per cent drop in female enrolment in the University following the reversal to core technology programs.
“This has greatly undermined the Federal Government’s efforts in mainstreaming the girl-child education especially in the North East region,” Dahiru said.
She added that given the huge investment by the Federal Government in the University, citizens of the state would be at an advantage if the University was made a conventional and multi-disciplinary institution.
Also, the Sponsor of the bill seeking to establish the Federal Polytechnic, Aba, Sen. Theordore Orji (PDP, Abia), said the Abia State Polytechnic was established in 1992 and presently had 12,000 students.
Orji explained that upgrading the institution into a Federal Polytechnic would bring about technological advancement and manpower to service the nation.
President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, referred them to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND for further legislative work.
Meanwhile, a total of 11 bills scaled first reading on the floor during plenary on Wednesday.
They are: 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) bill, 2019, by Sen.Istifanus Gyang; Criminal Code CAP C38 LFN 2004 (Amendment) bill, 2019, by Sen. Betty Apiafi; Federal College of Forestry Technology and Research, Akamkpa bill, 2019, by Sen. Gershom Bassey.
Other bills include: Public Procurement Act 2007 (Amendment) bill, 2019, by Sen. Uche Ekwunife, and Public Procurement Act 2007 (Amendment) bill, 2019, by Sen.Abdullahi Sankara; National Land Drainage bill, 2019, by Sen. Mohammed Musa
Others are; Electronic Transactions bill, 2019, by Sen. Ibikunle Amosun; Federal College of Education Marama, Borno State (Est.) bill, 2019, by Sen. Ali Ndume; Federal University of Agriculture and Technology Oke-Ogun, Oyo State (Est.) bill, 2019, by Sen.Abdulfatai Buhari;
The senate also considered the Federal College of Crop Science and Food Technology Lere, Kaduna State (Est.) bill, 2019, by Sen. Suleiman Kwari and South East Development Commission (Est.) bill, 2019, by Sen. Stella Oduah.
The Senate also stood down a bill for an act to provide for the inauguration of the National Assembly to ensure the smooth transfer of legislative power from the outgoing National Assembly to the incoming.
The lawmakers cited constitutional matters as reason for stepping down the bill.
The resolution of the Senate followed the lead debate of the general principles of the bill by the sponsor, Sen. Gabriel Suswam (PDP-Benue North-east) during the plenary.
Leading the debate, Suswam said that the Bill was read for the first time on September 25.
He said that the objective of the bill was to ensure a smooth transition of legislative powers from the outgoing national assembly to the incoming assembly.
This, he said was after the dissolution of the outgoing assembly by the President in the exercise of his powers under Section 64(3) of the constitution.
“Specifically, this bill seeks to ensure clarity and certainty with respect to the day/date for convening and inaugurating the incoming assembly.”
Seconding the bill, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP-Abia North), noted that the senate could not be inaugurated except by the proclamation of the president.
“Assuming you have a president that refuses to proclaim, how do we sit? This is the issue that we are making sure that we entrench along other good things about democracy.
“It is very good that we continue to entrench democracy,”Abaribe said.
Senate Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha, said that the bill was a masterpiece that would moderate the senate’s proceedings.
“What happened in the 8th Senate and even the 9th Senate, if there had been a bill like this in place, there would have been no need for the issues on inauguration or even the court process that we went through that almost divided us at the period of inauguration.
“The bill is a demonstration of the fact that we want to moderate ourselves just as we have laws that regulate agencies as empowered by the constitution,”he said.
In his contribution, Sen. Adamu Aliero (APC-Kebbi Central) raised Orders 63 and 64 of the Senate’s standing rules which states:
“The Senate and the House of Representatives shall sit for a period of not less than 181 days in a year.
“The Senate and the House of Representatives shall stand dissolved at the expiration of a period of four years commencing from the date of the first sitting of the House.
“The first sitting will be done immediately after a proclamation by the president and when the proclamation is signed, the senate reconvenes.
“I doubt very much that what Suswam is proposing will not go against the provisions of the Constitution,” he said.
Similarly, Sen. James Manager (PDP-Delta South) commended the bill, but with caution.
“Usually, the outgoing senate is aware of when they are leaving; the incoming Senate is not very clear of which particular day the inauguration is going to take place.
“This bill has come to bring certainty as to when the senate is sitting. I think it is the practice the world over.
“However, there are serious constitutional issues.
“This bill will provoke a lot of discussions. Let there be serious and rigorous public hearing on the bill for us to have certainty as to when the assembly will be inaugurated.
“Because of the obvious national implication of the bill, this is one bill that will require serious constitutional amendment to streamline things even in the states,” Manager said.
Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege said, “In the exercise of the power vested in Section 4, whatever we come with here are Acts of the Assembly.
“And when Acts of the Assembly are in conflict with specific constitutional provisions, what happens.
“It is for us to make this amendment. It is for us to amend the constitution and not by passing a bill that will be in conflict with the provisions of the constitution”.
In his remark, President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan, said: “I agree that it is a constitutional matter that we need to resolve.
“This Bill even if signed into law, cannot vitiate Section 64 of the Constitution. I will advise that we tow the path of constitutional amendment to achieve that”.