Senate adjourns until Sept. 24

By NAOMI SHARANG

The Senate has adjourned untill Sept. 14, for its annual summer recess.

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, made the announcement after considering the votes and proceedings at Thursday’s plenary.

Lawan congratulated the senators for devoting and sacrificing so much time towards achieving their goals.

“You will all recall that at the beginning of the 9th senate, we resolved to have a legislative agenda and in our legislative agenda, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and the amendment of the Electoral Act 2010 are very key, central and they are pillars of what we have set for ourselves to do.

“We have achieved those two issues that we set for ourselves. We have passed the Conference Committee report on the PIB.

“Since we have passed the Conference Committee report in the senate, I will like to say our conference committee has finished its job. It has done that diligently and therefore the conference committee ceases to exist,” he said.

He said that with the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, it was envisaged that no Nigerian would be disenfranchised in future elections.

“Time will definitely come when all parts of Nigeria will have the coverage that we all need to deploy our technology to ensure electronic transmission of our election results.

“This has come to settle the issue of what the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can do and what it cannot. We are giving INEC an Electoral Act amended to enhance its performance.

“This electronic voting that we have passed, there is a distinction between electronic voting and transmission. Electronic voting has been adopted by the senate.

“So we need to enlighten our people so that they are able to participate in the process. INEC should do its own part of enlightening Nigerians,” he said. (NAN)