A bill to amend the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2017 passed Second Reading in the House of Representatives on January 19 and was referred to the Committee of the Whole. The bill sponsored by the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and the Chief Whip, Hon. Mohammed Tahir Monguno, designates titles to the members of the National Assembly. It introduces new sections 21 and 22 to the Act to read as follows:
- A member of The Senate shall be designated and addressed as a Senator and shall be entitled to have before his name the word “Senator” during his term in office and for life.
- A member of the House of Representative shall be designated and addressed as a “Representative” and shall be entitled to have before his name the word “Representative” during his term in office and for life.
Legislators in the Senate are often addressed as ‘Distinguished Senator’ while those in the House of Representatives are addressed as ‘Honourable’ and ‘Right Honourable’ for the Speaker. However, this bill aims to change this. While the amendment does not substantially change the title of Senators, that of the members of the House appears to be novel development in the Nigerian legislature.