The House of Representatives yesterday passed a total of 130 bills through first reading at a single session presided over by the Speaker, Hon Yakubu Dogara who said the action was “unprecedented”.
Checks show that none of the Senate, previous House or any state House of Assembly in the country has ever presented such high number of bills at a single plenary. The passage of the bills is coming less than 24 hours after the national Assembly members had a dinner with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Among the 130 bills passed are: Corporate manslaughter bill, Medical and Dental Practitioners Act (amendment) bill, Psychiatric Hospitals Management Board Act (amendment) bill, Peoples Bank of Nigeria (repeal) bill, Marketing (breast milk substitute) Act (amendment) bill, National Mathematical Centre Act (amendment) bill, National Eye Centre Act (amendment) bill, Inland Fisheries Act (amendment) bill, Public Private Partnership Regulatory Commission bill, and Food Drugs and Related Products registration Act (amendment) bill.
Others are Loans (State) Development Act (Repeal) bill, Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Registration Act (amendment) bill, National Programme on Immunisation Act (Repeal) bill, Pre-Shipment Inspection of Exports Act (amendment) bill, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria Act (amendment), bill, Casino Taxation Act (amendment) bill, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure Act (amendment) bill, extradition Act (amendment) bill, Treaty to establish the African Union (Ratification and Enforcement) bill and Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Pesticide in International Trade Ratification and Enforcement Act (amendment) bill.
Just before the Clerk of the House, Mohammed Sani Omolori presented the bills, Speaker Dogara said, “for the change agenda to be effective, it must start by way of legislation and that explains the reasons for investing in many bills.”
He explained that the development on the floor was in consonance with its legislative agenda aimed at cleaning up and reshaping the laws of the country so that each piece of legislations will be in tune with the dynamics and contemporary realities.
He further disclosed that more bills were stockpiled in his office and advised lawmakers to sponsor them.
While further disclosing that more bills were on the way and in view of their urgency, he said the chamber “will ensure that these bills are passed before the end of the first quarter of next year,” adding that “from the next legislative day, at least 20 bills will be taken every day.”
“I sincerely believe that apart from our commitment to clean up our statutes books, for any change to be effective, I believe it must start from the legislation,” the Speaker stated.
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