The 10th House of Representatives yesterday resolved to step down all Bills transmitted from the Senate for concurrence, following what lawmakers described as consistent disregard by the Red Chamber for over 140 House-originated Bills awaiting Senate action.
During the heated debates on the undue delay of Bills transmitted to the Senate for concurrence, the House stepped-down two Bills sponsored by the Senate Leader, Sen. Bamidele Opeyemi
The resolution followed the adoption of a Motion raised by the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, in response to a Senate Bill seeking to amend the Federal Orthopaedic Hospital Management Act to establish the Federal Orthopaedic Hospital Obokun, Osun State, sponsored by the Senate Leader.
During yesterday’s plenary, the House Leader, Julius Ihonvbere, moved to step down a Bill seeking to “Establish Federal University of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Egbe, Kogi State and related Matters”, gazetted for consideration at the Committee of the Whole.
Trouble started when Chinda, representing Obio/Akpor federal constituency, Rivers State, was yielded the floor to second the Motion for second reading. In his contribution, Rivers lawmaker, Awaji-Iniombek Abiante, said, “Mr. Speaker, just to support what the Minority Leader had said, I have two Bills that have been in the Senate as early as 2024, and up till now, they have not been listed for concurrence.
He said: “The same thing happened to my Bills in the 9th Assembly, whereby throughout that Assembly, the Senate did not consider the Bills that were passed from the House, emanating from me, sponsored by me. 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. I would support for today that we should step down the consideration of this Bill; we should step it down. And probably you will find out from them what the problems and the challenges have been and why they do not consider Bills coming from the House. If the reasons are not cogent enough, we should reciprocate. This is my submission”.
His Borno counterpart, Ahmed Jaha, also expressed displeasure over the undue reluctance of the Senate to legislation transmitted by the House over the years.
On his part, the House Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, described the development as worrisome, saying: “From what the Clerk told me, we have 146 Bills that are with the Senate. Personally, I have more than 10 Bills. Some are there for more than six months; no attention. We don’t know what is really happening”, he stated.
The Speaker later appealed for calm, but aligned with the lawmakers’ concerns.
