Babatunji Wusu –
In order to prevent freshly elected or first-time senators from running for the positions of Senate President and Deputy President, the Senate changed its standing rules.
The motion to change the Senate Standing Rules to make room for new standing committees for the Red Chamber was made by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele and approved by the whole Senate on Tuesday.
When the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, put the proposal to a voice vote, all senators, regardless of their party membership, overwhelmingly supported it. The motion was seconded by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Simon Mwadkwon.
In addition, the Senate approved nine additional changes during the plenary session to provide room for new Senate standing committees.
The Senate established the Committee on Atomic and Nuclear Energy, as stated in its motion, to monitor the yearly budget estimates for the Nigeria Nuclear Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission.
The Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Committee on FCT Area Councils are two separate standing committees that were created by the Senate.
The Senate decided that the FCT Committee would be in charge of overseeing topics pertaining to the FCT, the planning and development of the new Federal Capital Territory, management of development inside the Federal Capital Territory, and the yearly budget of the Federal Capital Territory.
The upper house additionally decided that the Area Council Mandate, Area Council Service Commission, Area Council Staff Pension Board, Auditor-General for the Area Council, and other agencies or departments under FCT would be overseen by the Committee on FCT Area Councils.
To better represent the Committee on Sports Development and the Committee on Youth and Community Engagements, the Senate similarly split the Committee on Sports into two standing committees.
According to the Senate, the Federal Ministry of Sport Development, National Lottery Commission, National Institute for Sports, Nigeria Football Federation, Sport Arena Development, national and international sporting events, sports administration, and annual budget estimates are all included in the Committee on Sports Development’s purview.
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Citizens and Leadership Training Centre, Offices of the Senior Assistant to the President on Community Engagement in the six geopolitical zones, youth movements activities and associations, and its annual budget estimates should all fall under the purview of the Committee on Youth and Community Engagements, according to the Senate.
The Senate also split the Committee on Solid Mineral Development and the Committee on Mines and Steel Development from the Committee on Solid Minerals, Steel Development and Metallurgy.
The Committee on Solid Mineral Development, according to the Senate, “shall supervise the Federal Ministry of Solid Mineral Development, Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, Mining Cadastre Office, Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientist, Nigerian Metallurgical Training Institute, Solid Minerals Development Fund, Nigeria Institute of Mining and Geoscience, National Metallurgical Development Centre, exploration of minerals extraction and quarry, geological survey, and miner.”
The National Steel Raw Material Exploration Agency, the Aluminum Smelting Company of Nigeria, the Ajaokuta Steel Development Company, the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, and their budgets are all under the control of the Committee on Mines and Steel Development.
