The House of Representatives on Wednesday declined to give a second reading to a bill proposing the establishment of a Federal Orthopaedic Hospital in Obokun, Osun State.
The decision, made during plenary, stemmed from widespread frustration among lawmakers regarding the Senate’s consistent failure to consider bills originating from the lower chamber.
The bill, a Senate initiative, was listed on the Order Paper for a second reading.
Following the House’s tradition, Majority Leader Julius Ihonvbere moved the motion for the second reading after Speaker Tajudeen Abass called up the bill.
Abass then invited Minority Leader Kingsley Chinda to second the motion. While Chinda did second it, he did so with clear reservations, highlighting that numerous House bills are currently languishing in the Senate without any consideration.
“I will reluctantly second the motion for the second reading of this bill,” Chinda stated, underscoring the simmering tension between the two chambers.
The dispute over the Senate’s perceived inaction on House bills is not new, tracing back to the Ninth Assembly. Lawmakers have consistently voiced concerns that bills passed by the House rarely receive attention from the upper chamber.
Awaji-Inombek Abiante, a lawmaker from Rivers State, shared his personal experience, noting that two of his bills have been with the Senate since 2024 and have yet to be listed for concurrence.
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“The same thing happened to my bills in the 9th assembly, where throughout that assembly, the senate did not consider the bills that were passed from the house and sponsored by me,” he lamented.
Abiante questioned the ongoing nature of such a relationship and suggested the House “step down the consideration of this bill.” He urged the leadership to engage with the Senate to understand the reasons for their non-consideration of House bills, threatening reciprocation if the reasons were not “cogent enough.”
Ahmed Jaha, a lawmaker from Borno State, echoed these sentiments, stating that the Senate “in most cases” does not consider bills from the House. He proposed that the House Committee on Rules and Business and its Senate counterpart should formalize an agreement to ensure mutual consideration of bills from both chambers.
However, Speaker Abass interjected at this point, revealing that similar arrangements had failed in the past. He further disclosed a stark statistic: “The clerk told that we have 146 bills that are with the Senate. And I, as a person, have more than 10 bills. Some have been there for more than six months. We don’t know what is really happening.”
Other lawmakers who spoke on the matter uniformly called for the bill to be rejected. Consequently, Speaker Abass asked Chinda if he was willing to withdraw his secondment of the motion, to which Chinda agreed, effectively sealing the bill’s fate.
