SENATE HELD PLENARY 100 TIMES IN 2012 ...SPENT 158 DAYS ON HOLIDAY - ENANG: WE WORKED EVEN WHILE ON RECESS

The Senate held plenary sessions 100 times in as many days and spent a total of 158 days on holiday during the year 2012, findings by Daily Trust have shown. Based on section 63 of the Constitution, the Senate is required to sit for at least 181 days in a year.

But our correspondent reports that the Senate operates a legislative calendar that runs from June, and sits in plenary only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays while committees hold sessions throughout the week.

The Constitution does not specify the way the Senate calendar should run and if committee sessions form part of the required sittings, as it only says: “The Senate and the House of Representatives shall each sit for a period of not less than one hundred and eighty-one days in a year.”

Daily Trust’s checks on the activities of the upper chamber from January 1 to December 31, 2012 show that the Senate as a whole sat for a period of 100 days.

Senators resumed on January 10 after the Christmas break of the preceding year 2011, and rounded up legislative business for the year 2012 on December 20.

Within the period, plenary sessions of the Senate were held as follows: January (10 days), February (13 days), March (12 days), April (6 days), May (13 days), June (8 days), July (5 days), August (zero), September (6 days), October (9 days), November (12 days) and December (6 days).

But two leaders in the Senate, in separate reactions to this story, said the Senate legislative duties were not limited to holding plenary sessions of the whole chamber. They said committee activities also form part of their work and that the legislative calendar runs from June to June and not from January to December.

Adjournments

During the year, the Senate went on several recesses for a total of 158 days which amounted to five months in the 12-month calendar year.

On March 28, the Senate adjourned plenary to April 5. This break, as explained then by chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business Ita Solomon Enang, was to give the 56 standing committees enough time to deliberate and conclude work on crucial legislative matters.

From April 5 to 16, the Senate was on Easter vacation. This 12-day break, according to Senate spokesman Enyinnaya Abaribe, was to enable senators to consult with their constituencies for feedback that would aid parliament work.

On May 2, the Senate resumed plenary having adjourned on April 26 for the May Day public holiday.

On May 24, the Senate adjourned plenary to May 30 to mark the 2012 Democracy Day.

Between June 6 and 19, senators were on a 13-day break to mark the first anniversary of the seventh Senate.

On July 10, the Senate adjourned plenary for a day in honour of the chairman of its health committee, Senator Gyang Dantong (PDP, Plateau North), who died during a crisis in Plateau State.

From July 19 to September 18, the Senate went for its annual recess which lasted 62 days. Senate President David Mark said the recess would enable the senators get the much desired rest.

On October 18, the Senate embarked on a 19-day Eid el-Kabir break and resumed plenary on November 6.

On November 29, the Senate adjourned plenary to December 11 mainly for the lawmakers in the various Senate committees to conclude work on the 2013 budget. During the period, chairmen of the 57 standing committees appeared before the Senator Ahmed Maccido-led Senate Committee on Appropriation to defend the budgetary figures presented to them by ministries and agencies.

On December 20, the Senate, after passing the 2013 Appropriation Bill, adjourned for a 27-day Christmas and New Year break to resume on January 16, 2013.

‘Wrong calculation’

When contacted for a reaction to this story, chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, said there were other numerous legislative activities that were conducted when the Senate adjourned plenary.

“I don’t know why you are calculating our calendar from January. Our legislative calendar is from June to June,” Enang said on Sunday.

“Also, while I cannot agree to your calculation right now until I do my own calculation, I want you to know that it is not as if we don’t work when we adjourn plenary. What we do at the level of the various committees is part of legislative activities. Sometimes, we can work for ten hours, especially on budget, at the committee level.”

Also speaking to our correspondent by telephone yesterday, Senate leader Victor Ndoma-Egba said: “It is not correct to say we sat at plenary for 100 days throughout the year 2012. Those other sittings like the constitution review ones and a lot of others which took place outside the chamber are also part of plenary.”

In his reaction, legal practitioner Yahya Mahmud, SAN, said in an email: “The Constitution expects each House of the National Assembly to sit for 181 out of 365 days in a year. In computing the number of days, accounts are taken of days reserved for general committees sittings and organised retreats. That’s why members on official assignments and overseas/oversight tours/trips are taken as present on those days.”

Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Malam Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, said it appears the lawmakers forget about the Constitutional requirement of holding plenary sessions.

“This among other things is the reason why the executive arm of government doesn’t take them serious. The legislators sometimes do forget about this constitutional requirement of holding the plenary sessions,” he said.

He added that “though they are still engaged in other duties that include oversight, committees work, among others, this constitutional requirement must be adhered to. Only if they do that they can carry out their noble role of checkmating the excesses of the other arms of government.”

Source: Daily trust