By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The 10th Senate yesterday resumed legislative activities.
Members went into a closed-door session, immediately after the Senate President Godswill Akpabio took the opening prayers.
The executive session lasted for over three hours.
The senators resolved to inform President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that it had resumed legislative activities for the 10th session.
They also congratulated the House of Representatives for its successful inauguration and informed them that the Senate was now in session.
They equally informed the African Union (AU) and other International parliamentary bodies that it is now open for legislative work.
The Senate set up a 15-member Welfare Committee, chaired by Senator Isah Jibrin (APC-Kogi East) to make arrangements to enable senators to settle down.
The resolutions of the Senate followed motions moved by Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin (APC – Kano North), which were considered and adopted
The Senate, however, adjourned the plenary till July 4, 2023, to allow the management and its welfare committee to make arrangements for the allocation of offices and seats to Senators among others.
The recess is also to enable them to observe the forthcoming Muslim Holiday- Eid-el-Kabir.
Meanwhile, the minority caucus of the red chamber had resolved to work harmoniously with the newly elected presiding officers in the overall interest of the country.
Senator Abdul Ningi, who briefed newsmen after the minority caucus meeting, said all the senators spoke frankly during the executive session and agreed to work as a team by seeing themselves as senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Ningi said, “The 10th Senate will be entirely different. We are not going to be confrontational but we are not going to be laidback legislators.
“We will ensure that we understand our functions, powers, and limitations. We will outrightly inform the executive of our powers under the constitution, under the House rules, and under the legislative privileges. We are not going to be caged.
“I am very happy this afternoon that the first thing that the Senate President did was to call for an executive session, and it was a very exhaustive deliberation and I am happy he has started on a very clean slate.
“I can see that he is ready for this job and we have assured him that once he gives us our respect, we are going to accord him our full loyalty.
“We will also caution him that despite whatever happened, the Senate is the institution that made him Senate President and the chairman of the National Assembly and because he is a ranking senator, he understands that.
“We had an executive session, and then we went through the order paper and we sent a congratulatory letter to the House and we also sent communications to the international bodies like the EU, AU, the other legislative international bodies and then we adjourned for two weeks.
“The issue of the Sallah holiday is pending. We are supposed to adjourn for two weeks. A welfare committee was also set up to allocate seats and offices for senators. The sitting arrangement will be done based on the Senate tradition- that is ranking.
“Apart from the principal officers, the next sitting arrangement will be past leaders in the Senate, followed by those who were returning several times, including those switching to the Senate from the House.
“They would be followed by those coming from sister parliament in the state while the backbenchers will be the new lawmakers, including the former governors coming to the senate for the first time,” he added.
