Senate Steps Down Agriculture Transformation Bill Amid Procedural Row

There was slight back and forth on the floor of the Senate as a Bill for an Act to provide a comprehensive legal framework for the transformation and modernisation of agriculture in Nigeria suffered a setback.

The bill sponsored by the Deputy Senate President seeks to promote food security, agricultural productivity, mechanization, irrigation, agricultural financing, agro-industrialisation, rural development and climate-resilient farming.

It started when lawmakers complained that copies of the bill were not distributed, leaving them unable to make informed contributions.

Senator Abdul Ningi, Bauchi Central, questioned the intention of the bill and picked holes in it, demanding the document. The absence of the physical copies triggered further debate in the chamber.

Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North), who argued that he had been an agriculture lecturer for over 25 years, noted that agriculture is too wide and omnibus to be covered efficiently without proper scrutiny.

“Let us know the content of the bill to make informed contributions so we don’t make fools of ourselves. If we present this, I don’t want to be there in the presence of experts. Let us dissect the content of the bill.”

Senate President Godswill Akpabio concurred that the bill might be too voluminous to be considered without copies.

The Senate Leader, however, argued that bills had been uploaded on the senators’ platform and therefore there was no basis for the arguments.

Dissatisfied, Sen. Ningi cited the Senate Standing Order, reminding his colleagues that a printed copy of any proposed bill ought to be distributed to all senators, insisting that the rules be complied with.

Following the back-and-forth, the Senate President suggested that the bill be stepped down, a decision that was unanimously upheld by the chamber.