The Senate on Thursday, July 21, 2016 concluded some major
legislative assignments that are in the front burner of the Upper
Legislative Chamber’s agenda; prominent among the milestone achievements
of the day include the passage into law of the 61year old obsolete
Nigerian Railway Corporation Act, 1955, referral of 38 Federal Agencies’
2016 Appropriation Bill to various Senate Committees for further
legislative action and the screening exercise of Career Ambassadorial
nominees to the Committee on Foreign Affairs to report back promptly as
well as the passage of a Motion.
Ultimately,
consideration of the Nigerian Railway Corporation Bill 2016 deferred to
another legislative date on Thursday, July 14, 2016, resumed and
clauses 21 – 202, first, second, third, fourth schedules, short and long
titles of the Bill were considered and approved as recommended or
amended. The Bill sailed through third reading after a very rigorous
exercise; the Senate President commended members of Senate Committee on
Land Transport and other Senators for the feat, stating that the passage
of the Bill would revitalize the Railway sector for optimal development
and conform to modern trends and challenges.
Similarly,
a Motion titled “Need to Investigate Pre-shipment Inspection of Export
activities in Nigeria”, sponsored by Sen. Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf (Yobe
South) and 13 others was equally passed by the Senate. The law-maker
stated that Pre-shipment Inspection of Export means inspection of goods
(oil and non-oil) in Nigeria prior to the shipment of those goods
outside the country as provided under the Pre-shipment Inspection of
Export Act, Cap P26, LFN, 2004. Interestingly, the Motion got the nod of
the Senators with one resolution below:
1) Mandate
the Senate Committees on Finance, Commerce, Trade and Investment, Oil
and Gas, Petroleum Upstream, Banking and Financial Institutions,
Judiciary, Customs and any other relevant Committee to:
a) Conduct
investigative hearing as a matter of urgency to determine the exact
amount of crude oil and gas as well as non-oil exports proceeds
un-repatriated since the inception of the Act in April 1996 to date.
b) Ascertain
why the relevant Government Agencies usually have conflicting data of
same product value published in Nigeria on one hand, while those
published by the NNPC, are different on the other.
c) Engage
experts to conduct forensic reconciliation of Export proceeds of crude
oil, gas and non-oil exports into their Domiciliary Accounts since the
inception of the programme in 1996 and ascertain the exact amount due
for repatriation.
d) Engage
experts to conduct forensic reconciliation of the amount of Nigerian
Export Supervision Scheme domicile with the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN).
e) Direct
the CBN which is saddled with the responsibility to administer the
Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) under the technical Committee
to forthwith comply strictly with the provision of the Act and
guidelines for maximum benefits to Nigeria and Nigerians.
Accordingly,
the Senate President, has announced a change in the Chamber’s
Committees Leadership during plenary. This was corroborated by the
Chamber’s spokesman, Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi Sabi at a press briefing after
Thursday’s sitting. He added that exercise was a continuous one in
order to resolve lingering hiccups and strengthen the Senate for better
working relations and optimal output.
Also, the
Upper Legislative Chamber has adjourned session to Tuesday, September
13, 2016 for its annual end of legislative year-long break.
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