Senate passes bill to establish Agriculture University in Jalingo

The Senate on Wednesday amended and passed a bill seeking to establish the Counselling Practitioners Council of Nigeria.

Also passed was a bill to establish the Federal University of Agriculture, Jalingo.

The passage of both bills followed their re-committal to the Committee of the Whole for consideration.

The motion for re-committal was sponsored by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi North).

The Senate Leader, in his presentation recalled that the bills were passed by the Senate and House of Representatives and were transmitted to the Clerk of the National Assembly for onward transmission to the President.

He observed that some fundamental issues which required fresh legislative action by both chambers of the National Assembly emerged after a critical analysis of the bills by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He noted that a Technical Committee of the Senate and House and Directorate of Legal Services met and worked on the bills.

The chamber, accordingly, relied on orders 1(b) and 52(6) of the Senate Standing Order, 2022 as amended, and rescinded Its decision on the bills as passed and re-commit same to the Committee of the Whole for consideration and passage.

In a related development, a total of four bills scaled second reading on the floor during plenary on Wednesday.

The bills seek to amend the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria Act to restrict the activities of the Commission to its regulatory and coordinating functions; establish the Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Ogbolomabiri, Bayelsa State; Repeal the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 to eliminate violence in private and public life; and amend the Federal Universities of Technology Act.

The bills were sponsored by Senators Ibrahim Danbaba (Sokoto South); Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo (Bayelsa East); Jibrin Isah (Kogi East); and Muhammad Enagi Bima (Niger South).

The bills after consideration were referred by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to the Committees on Foreign Affairs; Information and Communications Technology; Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters; and Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND, respectively, for further work.

The Committees were all given four weeks each to report back to the Senate in plenary.