House Of Reps. Make History, Pass 130 Bills In Less Than 30 Minutes

Lawmakers of the Federal house of representatives on Thursday,10 December, made history as it passed a record total of 130 bills for first reading during its sitting.


 This development, marked a break from the normal proceedings where the speaker calls on the house clerk to read the "often" short title of any new bill which is afterwards, listed for second reading and debated.

Clerk of the house of representatives,Mohammed Sani-Omolori almost got exhausted reading out the numerous titles of the bill to cross first reading.

According to Information Nigeria,Some of the bills passed include: Manslaughter Bill, 2015; Medical and Dental Practitioners Amendment Bill, 2015; Peoples Bank of Nigeria Act (repeal) bill, 2015; National Eye Centre Amendment Bill, 2015; Inland Fisheries Act Amendment Bill, 2015; Public Partnership Regulatory Commission Bill, 2015 and Casino Taxation Amendment Bill, 2015.

Others are Extradition Amendment Act, 2015; NIPSS Amendment Bill, 2015; Workers’ Compensation Amendment Bill, 2015; Telecommunications and Postal Offences Amendment Bill, 2015; Criminal Justice Amendment Bill, 2015; National Film and Video Censors’ Board Amendment Bill, 2015; Robbery and Firearms Amendment Bill, 2015; EFCC Amendment Bill, 2015 among many others.

The Speaker of the house,Yakubu Dogara described the high number of bills passed as "Unprecedented".

This is the first time the house of representatives has taken such step since Nigeria's return to democracy and members of the house have promised to work harder describing it as a "shift from the era of slumbering in the past".