BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR
LAGOS — BARRING last-minute postponement, members of the National Assembly will resume tomorrow for the last four months of the Sixth Assembly.

Most of the 469 lawmakers (109 Senators and 360 Reps), who failed to secure re-election tickets of their political parties, will spend the remaining 130 days of their tenure handling 420 bills gathering dusts on their shelves. Notable among these bills are the 2011 Budget, Freedom of Information, FoI, Bill, and the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, among others.

The House of Representatives has passed 98 bills since June 4, 2007 when it was inaugurated.
While going on recess last December, the lawmakers had promised to conclude work on some of the outstanding 420 bills before its tenure runs out on May 29, 2011.

Of the 420 proposed bills, 49 are awaiting the consideration of the Committee of the Whole and another 71 are receiving the attention of various committees in the House of Representatives.

Upon resumption, members will contend with the challenge of  helping to douse the flickering flames of ethno-religious violence and recurring bomb blasts across the country. They will also look at the pending constitution amendment litigation even though they had passed the amended constitution to President Goodluck Jonathan for assent.

Speaking on the resumption yesterday, Senators Chris Anyanwu (PDP, Imo) and Sola Akinyede (PDP, Ekiti) said so far there was no change in the scheduled Tuesday, January 18 resumption date.

On his part, Sen. Mohammed Muhammed (ANPP, Bauchi Central), said the lawmakers would steer the budget towards capital projects. He said the National Assembly would approve 60 per cent of the 2011 budget for capital expenditure, to reduce the huge funds frittered on recurrent expenditure.

In spite of the enormous tasks before them, most of the lawmakers are sad and may not put in their best in the remaining four months.

A senator, who lost out in the primaries told Vanguard yesterday that he had not visited his office for a long time and did not know if there were mails waiting for his attention.

84 Senators, 280 Reps lose return tickets

Indeed, when the Seventh Assembly (2011– 2015) of the National Assembly is inaugurated on June 4, 2011, the federal legislature may be flooded with new faces. Going by the outcomes of parties’ primaries, only 21 per cent of the 109 senators and 360 House of Representatives members may return.

The scenario conforms with what was experienced in 2003 and 2007. In 2003, 270 Reps or 75 per cent lost their seats and in the Senate, 76 senators or 70 per cent of the lawmakers did not return. In 2007, only 20 per cent of Senators and 29 per cent of Reps came back to the National Assembly.