The Nigerian Senate has responded to the House of Representatives following the green chamber’s decision to suspend further consideration of bills originating from the Senate.
The House had cited persistent delays by the Senate in concurring with House passed legislation.
At the resumed Senate plenary on Tuesday, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele reassured the House that the Senate has been actively discharging its legislative responsibilities.
He noted that just last week, the Senate concurred with six bills transmitted from the House of Representatives.
Bamidele said although the Senate operates under the principle of chamber reciprocity, this does not mean “garbage in, garbage out.”
He insisted the Senate is committed to thoroughly considering all concurrent bills, particularly those forwarded on behalf of the Executive and said all bills will be treated with the seriousness it deserves and assessed in line with the overriding public interest.
Echoing this position, President of the senate Godswill Akpabio pointed out that the Senate concurred six House bills last week and is scheduled to consider two more during Tuesday’s plenary.
He reassured the House of continued collaboration between both chambers.
The House of Representatives last week resolved to suspend further consideration of Senate originated bills, accusing the red chamber of stalling action on over 146 bills passed by the House, a number of which were sponsored by House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.
(Editor: Oloyede Oworu)
