By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

The Senate, for some time, has witnessed relative peace and stability in its leadership. It is not that once in a while the prefect of the class of 109 members does not exhibit the dictatorial tendencies typical of an army general, but because, despite his unconscious display of absolute monarchy especially when it has to do with the opposition view, he has also exhibited sterling leadership and all inclusive quality.

However, since the state governors started taking the Senate as their retirement benefits, the Red Chamber is beginning to witness tensed and turbulent sessions.

Although, one hardly sees the former governors now in the Senate especially those that served between 1999 to 2011 during plenary with the exception of the erstwhile governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, and his counterpart from Yobe, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, it was gathered that some of them are the arrow-heads of the defection saga in the Senate.   Whether the leadership of the Senate acknowledges it or not, Senators Bukola Saraki of Kwara State, Abubakar Goje of Gombe and Abdulahi Adamu of Nasarawa State are former governors who are very powerful in the Senate and could pose a headache for the leadership if not well handled.

Even as the Senate President, Senator David Mark, is managing to control the erstwhile governors, he will be facing a strong opposition should he decide to run for another tenure and win as available information has it that governors serving out their second tenure have decided to join the Senate race.   With the party machinery in their hands, they may not have stiff opposition to maneuver their ways to the Senate and this will pose a great problem for Mark who may decide to retain his seat as the head boy of the class.

Already, some of these governors are known for imposition of candidates. Their emergence as senators would likely turn the Senate into a theatre of war.

A good number of them have initiated moves to stop serving senators from their constituencies from re-election so that they could take their positions especially in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. There is really fire on the mountain.

Pension Bill intrigues

The intrigues and ethnic sentiments which characterized the consideration of the Pension Reforms Bill was put to rest on Tuesday, as the Senate braced the odds and passed the long awaited bill into law. Although some senators from a particular geo-political zone backed some clauses in the bill to make way for a former Director General who had served two terms of for years each rooted the insertion of third term with pioneer Commissioners, the Presidency removed the third term from the bill.

Now that the Senate has crossed the hurdle, the ball is in the court of the House.

The present leadership in Pencom seems to have blocked all the loopholes in stealing the retired workers money with the introduction of Pension Transition Arrangement Department, PTAD, which will stop Nigerians from different parts of the country from going to Abuja to queue to collect their pension.   President Goodluck Jonathan bought the idea of PTADs to lessen the suffering of pensioners and zonal offices are being opened in the six geo-political zones of the country.

The PTAD is designed to take over the payment of pensions to pre-2004 Pension Reform (retirees under the old pension scheme) from the Police Pension Office; Customs, Immigration, and Pension Office, and the Civil Service Pension Department. It is designed to have money of this set of pensioners transmitted directly into their bank accounts rather than through a third-party (the pension departments).

Presidency loses the power to appropriate

In a bid to stamp its authority as the arm saddled with the responsibility of appropriation, the Senate has stripped the president and his minister the power to make appropriation for the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, saying neither the Presidency nor the minister has the constitutional powers to make appropriation.

The removal of the Presidency from making appropriation was contained in the bill seeking to amend the Companies and Allied Matters Act Cap. C20 Laws of the Federation, 2004 passed on Wednesday.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Odion Ugbesia, representing Edo Central Senatorial District and Chairman, Senate Committee on Trade, makes the CAC to subject the appointment of its Chairman to Senate confirmation while also providing   for the appointment of Secretary of the Commission.

It also makes it mandatory for the Commission to submit its annual estimates and reports to the National Assembly and not to the Presidency or the ministry as it was previously the case.

Ugbesia explained that the objective of the bill was to strengthen the CAC, which he described as the gateway to the nation’s economy.

He said the bill stipulates that the appointment of the Commission’s Board Chairman and its members should reflect federal character as provided for in the 1999 Constitution as amended.