Senate resumes plenary after five-week break

The Senate on Tuesday resumed plenary after a five-week break.

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his welcome address said the upper legislative chamber would continue to refine the Electoral Act to make it more effective.

The Senate had on May 11 embarked on a break to enable lawmakers to participate in the political parties’ primaries for the 2023 general elections.

Lawan said: “ The electoral process might have thrown up certain issues that the National Assembly could also look at and address.

“This is because the Electoral Act itself, even though a good document, is not a perfect document. So it needs some refinement from time to time to improve our electoral process.

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“We have participated in the parties’ primaries at various levels.

“Some of our distinguished colleagues participated in the congresses of their senatorial districts, some of our colleagues have gone for the governorship of their states and some of us went for the presidency of our country.

“We have recorded different results from those activities, but as politicians, it is never over until it’s over. We should continue to support the political system that we believe in.

“Those of our colleagues who have recorded successes, we wish them more successes in the general elections, and those of us who have not succeeded as much, we are hopeful that between now and then, the situation might be better.

“But on the whole, our commitment to ensuring that this democracy benefits from legislative interventions of the national assembly should remain our focus.

“As a parliament, we still have issues that require our legislative intervention.

“The security of our country still needs our attention. And therefore, I urge all of us to continue from where we stopped before we went on recess in giving due and desirable attention for the improvement in the security of lives and property of our citizens.”

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