National Assembly is the most visible democratic signpost. We have resolved as a Senate to abide strictly by the oath of office we have taken in not allowing our personal interest to affect the discharge of our duties

to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir David Lawal, who once told a group of senators, that “Saraki must go,” when they went to him to seek for a political solution to end Saraki’s trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), , has been edged out.

Landmarks so far

Unarguably, the stability being enjoyed at the Upper Chamber is no doubt responsible for the increase in the number of bills, motions, and petitions passed when compared to what obtained in the first legislative year.

In the first legislative year, the Senators legislated on 215 bills, 162 motions and 125 petitions on various issues of national importance. Only five bills were passed in the first year, but in the second legislative year, the figure snowballed to 48.

In all, 503 bills have so far been introduced, 140 are at committee stage, 79 awaiting first reading, four withdrawn, three negatived, seven are executive bills, 49 pending for concurrence and the rest are in second reading. The Senate also passed 46 House bills in the year under review.

Daily Trust reports that some of the bills passed are the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) that has been on for over a decade, the amendment to the Electoral Act, amendment to the Customs and Excise Act of 2004 and the famous Anti-Corruption Bill (mutual assistance in criminal matters).

A document made available to our correspondent by the Senate Committee on Rules and Business showed that the Senate had 187 motions and 369 petitions (out of which 70 have been adopted) in the period under review.

It further revealed that throughout the lifespan of the Seventh Senate (June 2011- June 2105), there were 585