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Senate President Bukola Saraki

Today is exactly one year since the eighth Senate was inaugurated and Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki (APC, Kwara central) emerged as the Senate President.
Under the leadership of Saraki, the Upper Chamber legislated on 215 bills, 162 motions and 125 petitions on various issues of national importance.

In the area of appropriations, the Senate worked on and passed the 2015 supplementary budget as well as the 2016 budget. At the moment, the budget of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and that of the FCT are at the committees’ level, undergoing legislative processes.
Out of the 216 bills, only five were passed, they are the Electronic Transaction Law 2015, the FCT High Court (Amendment) Law 2015, the Insolvency and Debt Recovery Bill 2015, the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment and the Nigeria Institute of Soil Science (Establishment, etc) Bill.
The FCT High Court amendment bill increased the number of judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory from 37 to 75.
Our correspondent reports that the remaining 211 bills are in first, second and third reading. The report of the North East Development Commission Bill (NEDC), has been laid and it is expected to be passed today.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume, and all the senators from the North East geopolitical zone, was conceived to fast track development of the destruction done by the Boko Haram insurgents in the region.
In the period under review, three bills were thrown out, namely: the Frivolous petition bill 2015 (SB. 143), otherwise known as anti- social media bill; the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Code of Conduct Tribunal(CCT) amendment bill and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 (ACJA).
Twice, the long awaited bill for an Act to provide for the Governance and Institutional Framework for the Petroleum Industry and for other related matters, otherwise known as PIB was stood down.
Key bills under consideration at the Red Chamber are, the amendment of the Public Procurement Act, amendment of the outdated Railway Act and the Crime and Criminal Tracking System Bill.
On motions, the Senate considered 162 motions on various issues affecting the country. Among the motions were the ones on Treasury Single Account (TSA) that reportedly saved the country N20bn and the one that led to the removal of electricity fixed charges.
Also, the motion on the abuse of import duty waivers, exposed a scam of N447.4 billion on import duty waivers, concessions and grants from 2011 to 2015. The senators have since asked the federal government to go after the violators. The senators, also, through motions, looked at the ban on Nigeria Agricultural Export products by the European Union; fire outbreak at an IDPs camp in Niger Republic, and the 2013 Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the oil and gas industry.
The executive secretary of the agency, Waziri Adio, has been summoned over missing N1 trillion from the oil and gas industry.
Also, the Senate is considering the review of 54 laws to ease businesses in the country and stimulate the economy.
In the period under review, 125 petitions were presented. Legislative activities have been completed on 32 bills and the remaining 83 are before Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions Committee, chaired by Senator Samuel Anyanwu.
One of the motions led to the reinstatement of Sergeant Amos Olaniyan, who was sacked 21 years after he was verbally suspended from the Nigeria Police Force.
In November, last year, the senators adopted a legislative agenda to set a benchmark for the 8th Senate.
Commenting on the one year of the eighth Senate, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said the senators did brilliantly well in the last one year.