The Senate has finally amended its Standing
Orders 2007 to amplify its provision for the preference of ranking
senators in selecting principal officers in the Senate.
Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, on Wednesday moved the motion for the provision of a new Order 3(2) of the rules and deletion of Order 97(1f) of the existing rules.
The amendment will preclude new senators from vying for positions of principal officers and give preference to ranking senators in gaining positions as principal officers or chairmen of committees.
The new Order 3(2) states, “Nomination of senators to serve as presiding officers and appointments of principal officers and other officers of the Senate or on any parliamentary delegation shall be in accordance with the ranking of senators.”
The order went further to clarify the order of ranking as: Senators returning based on number of times re-elected; Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives and senators elected as senators for the first time.
It also amended its Order 111 to ensure that all legislative businesses such as bills are continued without hindrances after the lifespan of the present Senate had expired.
The new Order 111 reads, “The legislative business of the Senate which remains undetermined at the close of a session of the Senate shall be resumed and proceeded with in the same manner as if no adjournment of the Senate took place; and all papers referred to committees and not reported upon at the close of session of the Senate shall be returned to the Office of the Clerk of the Senate and retained until the next session of the Senate when they shall be returned to the several committees to which they had previously been referred.”
Commenting on the amendment just before it was passed, the senators were not totally in agreement that the amendment was possible. While Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) was sure that the Senate had the powers to amend the rules in line with Section 60 of the 1999 Constitution to regulate its proceeds, he was not certain if the Senate by virtue of Sections 64 of the constitution which deals with the dissolution of the Senate allows the unfinished businesses of the Senate to be carried over to the next Senate.
Section 64(1) states that, “The Senate and the House of Representatives shall each stand dissolved at the expiration of a period of four years commencing from the date of the first sitting of the House.”
By Oluwole Josiah Courtesy Of: Punch
Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, on Wednesday moved the motion for the provision of a new Order 3(2) of the rules and deletion of Order 97(1f) of the existing rules.
The amendment will preclude new senators from vying for positions of principal officers and give preference to ranking senators in gaining positions as principal officers or chairmen of committees.
The new Order 3(2) states, “Nomination of senators to serve as presiding officers and appointments of principal officers and other officers of the Senate or on any parliamentary delegation shall be in accordance with the ranking of senators.”
The order went further to clarify the order of ranking as: Senators returning based on number of times re-elected; Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives and senators elected as senators for the first time.
It also amended its Order 111 to ensure that all legislative businesses such as bills are continued without hindrances after the lifespan of the present Senate had expired.
The new Order 111 reads, “The legislative business of the Senate which remains undetermined at the close of a session of the Senate shall be resumed and proceeded with in the same manner as if no adjournment of the Senate took place; and all papers referred to committees and not reported upon at the close of session of the Senate shall be returned to the Office of the Clerk of the Senate and retained until the next session of the Senate when they shall be returned to the several committees to which they had previously been referred.”
Commenting on the amendment just before it was passed, the senators were not totally in agreement that the amendment was possible. While Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) was sure that the Senate had the powers to amend the rules in line with Section 60 of the 1999 Constitution to regulate its proceeds, he was not certain if the Senate by virtue of Sections 64 of the constitution which deals with the dissolution of the Senate allows the unfinished businesses of the Senate to be carried over to the next Senate.
Section 64(1) states that, “The Senate and the House of Representatives shall each stand dissolved at the expiration of a period of four years commencing from the date of the first sitting of the House.”
By Oluwole Josiah Courtesy Of: Punch
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