Senate Aproves Agricultural Development Fund Bill

The Senate has approved a bill to establish the National Agricultural Development Fund.

It was gathered that the passage of the Bill followed the consideration of a motion for re-commital of the National Development Fund (Establishment) Bill, 2022.

The motion was sponsored by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi North).

Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, in his presentation, recalled that both chambers of the National Assembly passed the National Development Fund (Establishment) Bill, 2022, and transmitted same to the President for assent.

He noted that after critical examination of the Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari, some fundamental issues which required fresh legislative action on some clauses were observed.

He explained that against the backdrop, a Technical Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives met and worked on the affected Clauses of the Bill, “desirous of the need to assess the observations by the Committee and make necessary amendments.”

Accordingly, the chamber rescinded its decision on the affected Clause of the Bill as passed and re-committed same to the Committee of the Whole for reconsideration and passage.

The bill was passed by the chamber after the affected Clauses were reconsidered by the Committee of the Whole.

In a related development, a total of three bills scaled second reading during plenary on Tuesday.

The bills are for an Act to provide for the Facilitation and Coordination of Public Infrastructure Development; to amend the Provisions of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Act; and to Repeal the Quarantine Act and Enact the National Health Emergency Act.

The bills were sponsored by Senators Sadiq Suleiman Umar (Kwara North); Uche Lilian Ekwunife (Anambra Central); and Chukwuka Utazi (Enugu North).

The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, who presided over plenary on Tuesday, referred the bills after consideration to the Committees on National Planning; Trade and Investment; and Primary Healthcare and Communicable Diseases.

The Committees were given four weeks to report their findings to the chamber at plenary.