Senate of Nigeria

The Senate is the upper chamber of Nigeria's bicameral legislature, the National Assembly of Nigeria. The National Assembly (popularly referred to as NASS) is the nation's highest legislature, whose power is to make laws, is summarized in chapter one, section four of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. It consists of 109 senators: the 36 states are each divided in 3 senatorial districts each electing one senator; the Federal Capital Territory elects only one senator. [1] [2]

For other senates, see Senate.

Senate
9th National Assembly
Type
Type
Upper house
of the National Assembly of Nigeria
Leadership
Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan , APC
since June 11, 2019
Ovie Omo-Agege, APC
since June 11, 2019
Structure
Seats109
Political groups
  •   All Progressives Congress (65)
  •   People's Democratic Party (43)
  •   Young Progressive Party (1)
Length of term
4 years
Elections
Multi-member plurality system
Last election
23-24 February 2019
Meeting place
Abuja
Website
http://www.nass.gov.ng/
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The President of the Senate is the presiding officer of the Senate, whose chief function is to guide and regulate the proceedings in the Senate. The Senate President is third in the Nigerian presidential line of succession. He is assisted by the Deputy President of the Senate. The current Senate President is Sen. Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan and the current Deputy Senate President is Ovie Omo-Agege both members of the APC. [3] The Senate President and his Deputy are also assisted by principal officers including the Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Chief Whip, Deputy Chief Whip, Minority Whip, and Deputy Minority Whip. In addition, there are 63 Standing Committees in the Senate chaired by Committee Chairmen. [4]

The lower chamber is the House of Representatives.

Nigerian State Delegations

[5]

  1. Abia
  2. Adamawa
  3. Akwa Ibom
  4. Anambra
  5. Bauchi
  6. Bayelsa
  7. Benue
  8. Borno
  9. Cross River
  10. Delta
  11. Ebonyi
  12. Edo
  13. Ekiti
  14. Enugu
  15. Gombe
  16. Imo
  17. Jigawa
  18. Kaduna
  19. Kano
  20. Katsina
  21. Kebbi
  22. Kogi
  23. Kwara
  24. Lagos
  25. Nasarawa
  26. Niger
  27. Ogun
  28. Ondo
  29. Osun
  30. Oyo
  31. Plateau
  32. Rivers
  33. Sokoto
  34. Taraba
  35. Yobe
  36. Zamfara
  37. FCT

Functions of the Senate

Legislation

Bills may be introduced in either chamber of the National Assembly.[6]

Checks and Balances

The constitution provides several unique functions for the Senate that form its ability to "check and balance" other elements of the Federal Government of Nigeria. [7] [8] These include the requirement that the Senate may advise and must consent to some of the President's government appointments; also the Senate must consent to all treaties with foreign governments and it tries all impeachments.

Majority and minority parties

The "Majority party" is the party that either has a majority of seats or can form a coalition or caucus with a majority of seats; if two or more parties are tied the Senate President's affiliation determines which party becomes the majority party. The second largest party is the Minority party.

Term

Senators are to serve a term of four years until a General election. Senators have unlimited tenure[9] and can remain in the chamber for as long as they are re-elected in general elections.


Defection of some members in 2018

A group of 15 senators of Nigeria’s ruling party defected to the main opposition group underscoring rising political tensions thereby making the All Progressives Congress lose her majority stake, although Senate President Bukola Saraki was not among initially, but he finally decamped to the main opposition People’s Democratic Party on Tuesday, 31 July 2018. [10] [11] In August 2018, Senator Godswill Akpabio resigned as the Senate Minority Leader while joining the long list of Legislative defectors by joining the ruling APC. [12]

References
  1. Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Assembly. "Administration". Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  2. Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Assembly. "History And Roles". Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  3. Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Assembly. "Principal Officers of The Senate". Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  4. Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Assembly. "Find a Committee". Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  5. "National Assembly | Federal Republic of Nigeria". www.nassnig.org. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  6. Article 58 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999)
  7. Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Assembly. "Senate Constitutional Role". Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  8. Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Assembly. "Senate Constitutional Role". Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  9. "Pardoned for Senate". 7 August 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  10. David Malingha Doya and Paul Wallace. "Nigeria Ruling APC Party Loses Senate Majority on Defections". Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  11. Chudi, Felix. "Senate hurriedly adjourns till September 25 as PDP becomes majority party". Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  12. Vanguard, News. "Akpabio drops Senate Minority leader post". Retrieved 7 August 2018.
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