Senate Justifies Low Bill Passage: 25 Out of 477 Bills Enacted in First Year

On Thursday, the Senate announced that over the past year, its members introduced approximately 477 bills, with 25 of them being passed into law.

This was seen as a demonstration of the Senate’s commitment to legislative activities.

The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, shared this information in a statement celebrating the first anniversary of the 10th Senate.

Bamidele highlighted, “Since its inauguration on June 13, 2023, the 10th Senate has introduced 477 bills. Of these, 25 have been fully enacted into law, while others are at various stages of the legislative process.”

Despite the relatively low percentage of fully passed bills—5.24 percent—the Senate’s focus has extended beyond just passing legislation.

Bamidele emphasized that the Senate has also been addressing other critical national priorities as mandated by the Constitution.

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“In addition to legislative activities, the Senate has passed 115 resolutions of significant consequence to economic development and national stability. These resolutions stemmed from motions of national importance, sponsored by various senators after thorough consideration,” Bamidele noted.

He also pointed out that evaluating legislators solely on the number of bills passed into law is not comprehensive.

“Many people may measure our performance based on the number of bills that were fully passed into law. Different reasons account for the low number of fully enacted legislations. This can be ascribed mainly to other issues of highly fundamental national priority that occupied the attention of the Senate. Put differently, it is purely due to the imperatives of attending to other obligations as required by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999,” Bamidele explained.

Beyond legislative activities, the Senate has screened and confirmed 215 nominees for various political offices, including appointments to the Federal Executive Council, Central Bank of Nigeria, and leadership positions in the Armed Forces, Police, and other key agencies.

The Senate has also been strategically collaborating with key public institutions, particularly the executive arm, to defend the core interests of the federation, ensure macroeconomic stability, promote internal cohesion, and foster unity among the ethnic nationalities that constitute Nigeria.

“In the last 366 days, we have worked closely with these institutions to safeguard our nation’s interests and maintain stability,” Bamidele concluded.