NASS: Mixed Reactions Trail Pending Bills
Some politicians on Tuesday in Lagos blamed the outgoing National Assembly for performing poorly in the passage of bills.
Most of the politicians blamed the development on what they described as the inexperience of the legislators.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that hundreds of bills were still pending before the National Assembly, three months to the expiration of its tenure.
Among the pending bills are the Freedom of Information (FOI), Minimum Wage, the 2011 Appropriation and Child Rights.
Others are Bills on the Institute of Chartered Public Accountants (CPA) and the Chartered Institute of Management and Cost Accountants (CICMA).
Those interviewed described the situation as unfortunate and that most members of the current NASS should be regarded as “non-seasoned politiciansâ€.
Sen. Suleiman Salawu, national chairman, Action Alliance, described the situation as unfortunate and urged the National Assembly to pass many of the bills before the expiration of its tenure.
“If the National Assembly fails to pass these bills and a new parliament comes in, it will have to start the process afresh and this will amount to a waste of time and money,†he said.
Also speaking, former Deputy National Chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Alhaji Musa Umar, said that the non-passage of the bills would amount to starting all over again.
“It is obvious that majority of the legislators may not be coming back to the Assembly, so it going to be a fresh start when the new house comes in,†he said.
According to him, the legislators would not achieve much in passing the bills because some of the lawmakers would spend the rest of their tenure campaigning for the coming general elections.
In his contribution, Mr. Sam Onimisi, National Publicity Secretary, Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), said that the legislators were busy enriching themselves rather than performing their constitutionally assigned duties.
“When the life span of this assembly end in May, the in-coming legislators will have to start afresh; in other words, the bills have to be re-presented for them to study and make provisions,†he said.
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