Senate self-indicts, changes resumption time of plenary

• Rejects forex control legislation
• Akpabio, Lawan differ on alignment with Reps

The Senate, yesterday, acknowledged its greatest shortcoming of commencing plenary behind schedule, thereby trampling on its standing rule that stipulated 10.00 a.m. as the time to commence sitting.
 
It also rejected a bill seeking to impose control on the foreign exchange market in the country. 
 
Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, had raised two motions at the commencement of plenary, including the proposed amendments to the standing rules bordering on amendment of Order 8(2), which proposed sitting on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and the Senate shifting it from 10.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m.
 
He also moved his second motion on Standing Committees Amendment of Order 96 inclusion of 58, to create the Senate Committee on Reparation and Repatriation. 
 
However, the second motion was stepped down as senators opted to debate on the issue of sitting time.
 
Lending his voice to the issue, Senator President, Godswill Akpabio, had indicated that the most urgent motion was to align the time of resumption with what was obtained in the House of Representatives.
 
He suggested that the motion should be separated and that the first one to be taken should be the sitting time.
 
But his predecessor, Ahmed Lawan, disagreed, saying: “I don’t know the basis at the moment for which we want to shift our sitting from 10.00 to 11.00 and end at 3.00 p.m. We have more energy and our eyes are clearer in the morning. But one hour into the day, we would have lost some energy.
 
“If we sit at plenary between 10.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m., our committees would do better.
 
Akpabio threw it back at Lawan that the idea of the Senate sitting by 11am started during his time as the President of the 9th Senate, especially during COVID-19.
 
After going into a closed-door session at the instance of Akpabio, they return to support the motion that plenary should commence at 11.00 a.m.
 
Before now, according to the Senate Standing Rule, plenary starts at 10.00 a.m. on every legislative day.

SPONSORED by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), ‘The Foreign Exchange (Control and Monitoring) Bill 2024’ (SB. 353) also sought to make provisions for the control, monitoring and supervision of transactions conducted in the FX market. 
 
Musa said it would also contribute to the sound development of the economy by striving to facilitate foreign transactions and balance international payments.
 
He said, “It will also stabilise the value of currency by ensuring the liberalisation of forex transactions and other foreign transactions by revitalising market functionality.’’ 

“The bill attempts to expand Section (1) of the existing Act to incorporate three new provisions to make for clarity and to empower the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to administer, control and manage all dealings and transactions about foreign exchange matters.”
 
Most senators expressed fears that fresh legislation seeking to monitor or control the activities of the FX market apart from what the CBN was doing, could be counter-productive.
 
Senators, who expressed serious reservations over the proposed law, include Solomon Adeola (Chairman, Appropriation Committee), Tokunbo Abiru (Chairman, Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions) and Aliyu Wadada (Chairman, Senate Public Account Committee).
 
Former Accountant General of the Federation, Ibrahim Dankwambo, who represents Gombe North, noted that the law, if passed, would confuse Nigerians.
 
He believed that any further law aimed at regulating the foreign exchange market should come from the executive arm of government to avoid crises in the sector.
 
Akpabio, who presided over the session, urged Musa to withdraw the proposed law for further consultations, but the senator refused.
  
The Senate president then called for a voice vote, and majority of the federal lawmakers voted against it.
 

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