By all indications, the 8th Senate appears to be interested in giving Nigerians more input into the workings of its activities.
In that sense, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has commended some Nigerians who contributed their quota in the suggestion of viable recommendations for prospective legislation, in response to a call he put out last week.
According to Dr. Saraki, these Nigerians responded to his call to “partner with us at the Senate by suggesting prospective policy recommendations.”
He said Nigerians both home and abroad responded to the call and came up with feasible suggestions. “We received thousands of mails, and I must say I am delighted at the in-depth report submitted by some of you,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Dr. Saraki singled out a few that he felt were exemplary among the sea of suggestions.
“Some suggestions such as the Animal Control Bill by Benard Bojuwoye, the Personal Income Tax Act Reform by Michael Oshinyemi a Nigerian in diaspora, and a bill to create more awareness on violence against citizens by Oludiya Funmilola, stand out as viable recommendations that the 8th Senate will look into.
“Other stand-out recommendations include a bill designed to address the exploitation of our tax laws and exploitation of Nigerians by multinational firms by Femi Obagun, and a brief policy for more stringent laws against rapists, a Workers Protection Act, an Alternate Financing to Economic Growth Act, a Policing and State Security Act, and a Government Transparency and Anti Corruption Act.
“These are just some of the suggestions that we have received, which I plan to go over in detail in the next few days to see how we can consider some of these bills,” Saraki said.
While calling on more Nigerians to avail themselves of the opportunity to directly shape legislation, he urged them to send their recommenations to [email protected].
These, he said, will be looked into.