The National Assembly resumed sitting this week, with the House of Representatives holding plenary on Monday, 14th November 2022. The Senate followed suit on Wednesday, 16th November 2022. It will be recalled that both houses adjourned sitting on 12th October 2022, for a period of four weeks to allow Committees carry out their budget defence exercise. The period has seen ministries, departments and agencies of government appearing before Committees of the National Assembly to defend their proposed budgetary allocations in the 2023 national budget of N20.51 trillion. It is expected that the legislators will conclude considerations and pass the 2023 Appropriation Bill in the coming weeks, for onward transmission to the President for assent.
The House of Representatives deliberated on critical national issues at its plenary on 14th November. The House requested that President Muhammadu Buhari present a supplementary national budget of N100 billion to tackle the issue of flooding. The House also directed its Committee on Appropriations to make provision for the sum of N200 billion as ecological funds in the 2023 national budget. In his welcome remarks, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila stated that the House will convene a national summit on tertiary education reform on the 22nd and 23rd of November 2022, with the theme: ‘Reimagining Tertiary Education in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Solutions’.
At the sitting, the Speaker also read an executive correspondence from President Buhari. It contained bills proposing amendments the of the Code of Conduct Bureau Act, the Code of Conduct Tribunal Act, and alteration of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution to ensure the effective performance of the functions of the Code of Conduct Bureau and assist the Code of Conduct Tribunal in the effective and speedy dispensation of cases.