House Suspends Senate Bills Over Delayed Concurrence

Juliet Akoje in Abuja

The House of Representatives decided to suspend any further review of Bills originating from the senate, citing ongoing delays by The Senate In reciprocating action on legislation previously passed by the House.

The House accused the Senate of intentionally hindering the legislative process by failing to act on more than 140 bills sent from the House, including several personally sponsored by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen.

This unresolved issue, which also existed during the 9th National Assembly, resurfaced after Minority Leader Kingsley Chinda pointed out that while the House frequently processes bills from the Senate, the Senate has consistently failed to do the same for House bills.

Speaker Tajudeen expressed concern that approximately 146 House-approved bills are still awaiting concurrence in the senate.

He emphasized that this one-sided legislative collaboration diminishes the overall productivity of the National Assembly.

As a result, the House declared it would no longer entertain Senate-originated bills unless the Senate demonstrates a firm commitment to correcting this imbalance.

The Nigerian legislative process requires that a bill must be passed by both chambers – the House of Representatives and the Senate – before it can be transmitted to the President for assent and become law.

Chinda raised his concerns after House Leader Julius Ihonvbere moved a motion to consider a Senate bill seeking to amend the Federal Orthopaedic Hospital Management Act and establish a new Federal Orthopaedic Hospital in Obokun, Osun State.

In support of the protest, Hon. Dogomie Abiante (PDP, Rivers) shared that since early 2024, two of his bills, although passed by the House, have been ignored by the Senate and never even listed for debate – unlike the House, which continues to consider Senate bills.

Ahmed Jaha (APC, Borno) noted the Senate often fails to act on House bills.

He recommended that the House Rules and Business Committee engage its Senate counterpart to determine the reason behind the repeated inaction.

He further suggested that halting the consideration of Senate bills would send a strong message that House bills also deserve prompt attention, just as the House has been giving to Senate proposals.

Although Speaker Abbas attempted to persuade lawmakers to proceed with the second reading of the Senate bill in question, members stood firm in their position that it should be set aside.

The Speaker acknowledged that according to available records, the Senate has yet to act on around 146 bills from the House, including over 10 he personally sponsored – some of which have been pending for more than six months.

Due to the firm stance of House members, Speaker Abbas ruled that going forward, the House will suspend further consideration of Senate bills unless the Senate provides a substantial guarantee of better legislative cooperation.