As Lawan Tackles Akpabio over Change in Senate Standing Rule…

The decision of the 10th Senate leadership to shift plenary period which used to be between 10am and 2pm, to 11am and 3pm, caused a mild drama on the floor of the Senate last Thursday, reports Sunday Aborisade

The Senate last Thursday amended its Order Paper to henceforth hold Plenary from 11am to 3pm after the Senate Leader,  Senator Opeyemi Bamidele,  had raised two motions at the commencement of plenary.

One of the motions was an amendment to the standing rules which proposed that the Senate shifts the timing it’s sittings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 11am, and close by 3pm like their counterpart in the House of Representatives.

The Senate Leader also moved his second motion on Standing Committee’s Amendment of order 96 to create the Senate Committee on Reparation and Repatriation. 

However, the second motion was stepped down as senators opted to debate on the issue of sitting time.

While lending his voice to the issue, Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio had indicated that the most urgent motion was to align the time of resumption of plenary with what is obtainable in the House of Representatives.

He suggested that the motion should be separated and that the first one to be taken should be the time of sitting.

However, the immediate past President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan while making his contribution, disagreed with Akpabio.

Lawan said, “I don’t know the basis at the moment for which we want to shift our sitting from 10 to 11 and end at 3pm, for me, we have more energy, our eyes are clearer in the morning and one hour into the day, probably we would have lost some energy.

“If we work between 10am and 2pm, if we sit in the plenary between 10am and 2pm, our committees would do better. If we don’t have any reason except we have to synchronize with the House, I think we need to look at it again. 

“However, if we have other reasons that we must change, that is fine. If it is just to synchronize with the House that may have their reasons for sitting at 11 and close by 3pm but here I don’t see the reasons.”

Responding, Akpabio threw it back at Lawan that the idea of the Senate sitting by 11am started during his time as the President of the 9th Senate especially during the period of the COVID-19.

But Lawan instantly reacted by saying it was adjusted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that the time was tinkered with from 10am to 11am adding that they also had to cut down on the number of days for plenary.

Akpabio then replied and said, “Our rules said 10am but we came to meet the tradition of 11am, the only thing that we changed was to add additional day because during that COVID-19 period we were sitting twice a week.”

He said, “I said no, since there is no more COVID we should sit three times in a week and we maintained what we saw, 11am but now we are saying that we have not been able to justify the 11am sitting unless it reflects same on our rules. 

“The Idea of (closing by) 3pm in my view is not correct because it does not mean you must sit till 3pm, it simply means if we don’t have much to do we can close at 1pm or 2pm to enable our colleagues to go for committee sittings and other matters related to the proceedings of the Senate such as clearances and all that. 

“The only aspect of it is to legalise it so that people don’t have the impression that you are sitting at 11am while the rule says 10am.

THISDAY checks revealed that since the inauguration of the 10th Senate in June, 2023, plenary session that was originally scheduled to start by 10am usually starts from 11am due to the leadership habit of lateness to the federal parliament.

Rule 8 sub-section (2) of the Senate Standing Rule (as amended) states: “On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, the Senate shall meet at 10:00 a.m. and unless previously adjourned shall sit until 2:00 p.m., unless before a substantive motion had been moved by the Leader of the Senate or a Senator acting in that capacity “that this Senate do now adjourn” and if such a motion be moved and if the question thereon has not previously been determined, at 2:00 p.m. the President of the Senate shall adjourn the Senate without question being put.”

However since the coming on board of the current leadership of the 10th Senate, the plenary has always been held from 11am to 3pm.