SAN FRANCISCO, October 12, (THEWILL) – The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has promised that the 8th Senate will work to meet a 2016 deadline for the passage of all the 11 economic bills scheduled to tackle the present economic recession affecting the country, stressing that one of the plans of the Senate was to ensure the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, in this administration.
Saraki stated this during a dialogue at the 22nd Edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG, in Abuja, explaining the since the beginning of the year, the Senate had worked to fast-track the over 40 priority bills recommended by the National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable, NASSBER, an initiative in which the NESG is a major partner.
Disclosing that the bill would be broken into different sections for easy passage, he stressed on Tuesday that with the passage of the PIB, Nigeria would generate more revenue from oil and as such, bounce back from economic recession.
“By focusing more on outcomes, rather than processes, the Nigerian Senate has been able to pass 20 Bills for final reading in two weeks,” he said.
The Senate President, while speaking on the ‘Made in Nigeria’ theme of the summit, lauded the organisers for keying into the plan of the upper legislative chamber for generating more revenue from home-grown businesses.
“Earlier this year, when, in the Senate, we started the ‘Made in Nigeria’ campaign, we knew how important it was, but even we did not foresee how far it would go.
“To promote the patronage of our domestic businesses, the Senate has gone as far as amending the procurement act to urge government ministries, departments and agencies to key into this initiative.
“It is our hope that Nigerian businesses can begin to benefit from the over N2 trillion naira in government expenditure in the 2016 budget.
“So that we can reduce the demand on foreign exchange while simultaneously boosting our IGR,” Saraki stated.
Story by Ugonnabo Ngwu
