President Muhammadu Buhari has assented to more Bills than any other Nigerian president since the commencement of the fourth republic in 1999, the Senate President said.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan on Monday explained that no other president has been able to achieve this feat which he credited to the proactive 9th assembly.
He explained that President Buhari led-APC had been the most proficient in granting assent to Bills stressing that available data on gazetted Acts showed that between 2015 and 2021, President Buhari had assented to more than 84 Bills, the highest since 1999.
Lawan said the projection was that the figure would be significantly higher before the end of Buhari tenure in 2023.
From data sown by the Senate President, President Olusegun Obasanjo signed a total of 82 billed into law between 1999 and 2006, President Umaru Yar’Adua signed 38 bills into law between 2007 and 2009 while President Goodluck Jonathan signed 40 bills into law between 2010 and 2915.
The Senate President said as of November 2021, about 2,500 Bills had been introduced in the National Assembly – 769 in the Senate and 1,634 in the House of Representatives.
“However, as I have repeatedly maintained, for us in the 9th Assembly it is not so much the number of bills as it is quality.
“We have focused our energy working on legislations that have a realistic chance of being assented to as well as those that have the potential to impact most on the lives of Nigerians,” Lawan said.
“I dear say that the ninth Assembly has been the most successful in the area of lawmaking since 1999.
“We have broken many ‘jinxes’ and done many ‘firsts,’ overcoming traditional obstacles through consensus building and clever political brinkmanship,” Lawan said.
