Senate Will Give Priority To PIB, FCT, Electoral Matters, Says Enang

Source: thewillnigeria.com

Says No Senate Probe Report Will Be Swept Under Carpe

SAN FRANCISCO, June 09, (THEWILL) â€' The Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Sen. Ita Enang, has said the Senate would give priority attention to Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and all pending legislative matters immediately it resumes from the current two-week recess.

Enang said this in Abuja on Monday at a press briefing to highlight the performance of the third session of the 7th Senate.

He noted that some of the pending legislative matters included the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the FCT budget, budget of government agencies, and matters dealing with electoral system restructuring and voters registration.

The senator also assured members of the public that all critical and sensitive reports submitted so far by its various committees would be debated upon and passed accordingly on resumption of its fourth session, saying none of them would be swept under the carpet.

Enang disclosed that the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, had directed that all pending matters should be given priority consideration when the senate resumes from recess.

'The Senate President has directed that since all these matters are of great public interest, we would have to prioritise them. And that is the directive of the Senate President.

'We will give priority to every major matter that is pending. Also conscious of the time that the fourth session is a peculiar session, we will prioritise these bills and expedite the report of these bills as we resume from the end of the 3rd session break, ' he said.

Enang also noted that a total of 187 bills were introduced during the third legislative session, which ran from June 2013 to June 2014. He explained that out of the 187 bills, 12 were passed while 14 passed second reading.

Analysing the various stages of the bill, he said, 'These include bills either passed, withdrawn, read a second time, committed to standing committees, consolidated, and all bills howsoever but published in the journal of the Senate.'

He noted that 'There are, however, some draft bills, which are yet to be numbered or published in the journal, or being now re-drafted or scrutinized,' saying ' These are not included in the numbered 187 bills.'

The Senate in the Third Session passed the Pension Reform Bill, Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Bill, and further extension of the State of Emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

He described as untrue, allegations that the senate leadership was trying to 'kill' some reports of some committees which had implicated certain influential personalities in the society.

EMMA UCHE, ABUJA