Posted by By AMOS DUNIA and OLUWOLE AKINBOYEWA, Abuja on
For the first time in the over one year existence of the present sixth Senate, a major division took place among senators on Tuesday over the suitability of a Bill for an Act to establish the 'Nigeria Investment Fund for future Generation and other Matters incidental thereto."
For the first time in the over one year existence of the present sixth Senate, a major division took place among senators on Tuesday over the suitability of a Bill for an Act to establish the 'Nigeria Investment Fund for future Generation and other Matters incidental thereto."
The development followed an over two hours heated debate by senators over the bill, sponsored by Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw (Cross River), which three voice votes was not able to determine its acceptability.
The situation marked the first time ever the Senate under the leadership of Senator David Mark had to call for a division of individual votes which witnessed the roll call vote taken by the acting Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Ben Efeture.
However, when the roll call was being announced, some of the senators who had openly argued against the bill during its debate voting for the adoption of the bill for second reading before it was committed to committee for detailed work on the proposed law.
After the division and voting, the Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Efeture, announced that those that voted in support of the bill recorded 34 votes while those against stood at 18 votes just as there were three abstinence even as 53 senators were absent from the proceedings.
The call for the division of senators for the purpose of voting was sequel to the dissatisfaction of Senator Ewa-Henshaw, mover of the motion, who cited order 73 (1), (2), and (30) and requested the president of the Senate to put the matter to vote by dividing the Senate.
Majority of the senators who have so far been identified as being on the radical side in their contribution to debates voted against the bill.
This class of senators included Ganiyu Solomon, Chimaroke Nnamani, Smart Adeyemi, Isiaka Adeleke and Ayogu Eze, amongst others.
Similarly, majority of former governors now in the Senate namely Senators George Akume (Benue), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi) and Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna) also voted against the bill while all the principal officers of the Senate voted in favour of the bill.
Earlier in his lead debate, the mover of the motion, Senator Ewa-Henshaw, noted that the bill with the title: Nigeria Investment Fund for future Generation and other Matters Incidental Thereto Bill, 2008, was vital owing to the vagaries in the global oil market which could also witness a glut at any time.
Senator Ewa-Henshaw further said that the Bill sought to mainly receive contributions from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government in accordance with section 80 of the 1999 Constitution as against the drawing from the Federation Account covered under section 162.
'It is an economic fact which applies to nations just as much as it applies to individuals or corporate bodies that there comes a time when inflows of resources are inadequate to meet outflows. At such times, the savings come handy to avert crisis. Some Western countries in fact already source up to 25 per cent or more of their energy requirements from alternative sources such as nuclear, wind and solar energy," Senator Ewa-Henshaw enthused.
He also noted that Nigeria is a blessed country with surplus earnings from the sale of oil adding that the high prices combined with pollution, global warming and other types of damages to the environment have generated a strident call for a movement away from the use of petroleum products.
At the end of the voting exercise, the Bill which scaled through second reading was referred to the joint Committees of Finance, Judiciary and Legal Matters and National Planning for details of work and possible holding of Public hearing before submission to the Senate for passage.