Nigerian Senate To
Pass Amended 1999 Constitution And 2010 Budget On
Obina Ani
The
Nigerian Senate says the Appropriation Bill will be passed
today, Thursday at the plenary.
The Bill
At the plenary on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Appropriation, Senator Iyiola Omisore, laid the
report on the Appropriation Bill before the Senate.
The Senate had committed the bill to the Appropriation Committee
earlier this year after its second reading.
The Four point zero seven trillion Naira Appropriation Bill was
submitted by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to the national
Assembly in November last year as the 2010 Nigerian Budget.
There are however, indications that the amount would be beefed
up as about one point five trillion naira was said to be added
to the original amount by the Executive earlier this year.
The Senate is expected to also pass the amended version of the
1999 Constitution today, Thursday.
The senators had voted on Wednesday on all the 36 sections of
the bill dealing with electoral reform.
All the amendments, as endorsed by the Senate, met the required
two-third majority as they each recorded more than 73 votes.
The bill was, however, not read the third time as amendment to
Section 109 on the tenure of members of the National Assembly
was omitted.
The amendment to Section 109 will be submitted today for
consideration by the Constitution Amendment Committee as
directed by the Senate before the bill could be read the third
time and passed.
Voting on Section 76, which provides for elections to be held
between 150 and 90 days to the expiration of tenure, was passed
as voted for its amendment.
Section 137of the constitution which seeks to prevent the
elongation of tenure of office of the country’s president
through litigation was also passed with 90 Senator in favour of
its amendment.
Many senators commended Senate President David Mark for the
innovative electronic voting system used during the debate on
Wednesday.
It was the first time electronic voting was used in the Senate
since the return of democracy in 1999.
The senators insisted that voice votes should be discontinued,
while the electronic voting system should be used when voting on
bills and motions.
Meanwhile, the Senate President has announced the defection of
Senator Mohammed Gusau (Zamfara Central) from the All Nigeria
Peoples Party to the Peoples Democratic Party.
Williams/Qasim
