A HOUSE of Representative Bill meant to make immunity provisions for serving federal lawmakers in Nigeria has been dismissed by the Senate.
This was disclosed in Abuja on Tuesday by the Senator Enwinnaya Abaribe, the senate committee chair on Information, Media and Public Affairs.
Expressing surprise that the any lawmaker would seek protection from outside the ones provided in the statutes of the National Assembly, Mr. Abaribe explained that every legislator already enjoyed protection for their utterances on the floor of the chambers.
“The Legislative Powers and Privileges Act already gives every legislator immunity for whatever you say on the floor of the chamber. So, that is already a settled law and fact.
“I will be very surprised if somebody is asking for immunity outside the chambers of the National Assembly. Why would anybody ask for such?
“We do not want to grant anybody such immunity. I don’t think that will pass any floor.
“No legislator will seek immunity outside the chamber for whatever he does outside of the parliament,” Abaribe said.
Were such law to pass, it will likely generate another round of public outcry over the privileges and protections of the lawmakers, who are already perceived as spoiled with too many privileges.
In the past, loud protests in the media and on the streets have greeted actions by federal lawmakers, who allocate large material and monetary privileges to its members at will. These includes allowances for vehicle and furniture purchase, along with other allowances for accommodation.
In recent years, some influential public persons have suggested that lawmakers work part time to reduce the bloated costs of maintaining the federal legislature.
Others like influential opposition figure, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the Action Congress of Nigeria, have said that the bi-cameral legislature system be scrapped for a unitary legislative system.