The Senate has assured Nigerians to look forward to the reform of the electoral system and review of the 1999 Constitution, among others, as the second half of the 10th National Assembly kicks off.
The Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, stated this in a statement issued on Sunday, to commemorate the mid-term exploits of the legislative institution.
According to him, ‘The lawmakers would prioritise reforms of the country’s electoral regime to ensure every vote continues to count, guarantee good governance and make participation in the electoral process more interesting for decent and innocent citizens.
‘When you know that if you contest for an election, your vote will definitely count, this assurance will make democracy more interesting for our people, enhance voters’ participation in the process and make our electoral process more credible and transparent’.
Speaking on judicial reforms, the senator said, ‘We are equally looking forward to greater judicial reforms in the next two years to ensure justice is done transparently and tenaciously.
‘We already have various bills that seek the reforms of the judiciary.
‘While some are seeking a review of how judges and judicial officers are appointed, others focus on their length of service and welfare’
The 10th National Assembly, comprising the Senate and House of Representatives, was inaugurated on 13 June 2023, following the election of Godswill Akpabio as Senate President and Tajudeen Abbas as Speaker.
The election of the presiding officers also produced Senator Barau Jibrin as the Deputy President of the Senate and Benjamin Kalu as the Deputy Speaker House of Representatives, among others.
Reflecting on the Senate’s midterm exploits on Sunday, Bamidele spoke on how the institution had leveraged the instrument of strategic engagement to carry out its constitutional mandates in enacting legislation that stabilised the country’s fiscal, monetary and political environments.
He said: ‘In the 2024/2025 legislative year, for instance, 506 bills were initiated in the Senate alone, compared to 477 in 2023/2024.
‘This represents a 6.07 per cent increase. Also, in the 2024/2025 legislative year, the upper chamber fully passed 83 bills into law compared to 25 in the previous legislative year.
‘This represents truly a great feat that glaringly accounts for a 232 per cent increase in the number of fully enacted legislations between 2023 and 2025.
‘As against 13 in the 2023/2024 legislative year, the Senate worked on 26 executive bills in 2024/2025, invariably indicating a 100 per cent upsurge.
‘This record shows that 464 private member bills were initiated in 2023/2024 compared to 480 in 2024/2025’.
The Senate Leader also cited the case of the tax reform bills, describing its passage as a testament to the resolve of the 10th National Assembly to end the country’s fiscal challenge.
He assured that the bills would carry out far-reaching reforms that would eliminate structural inefficiencies in the country’s tax administration and boost investors’ confidence in the domestic economy.
