Speaker of the House Of Representatives, Femi Gbajabimila last week announced that the House would suspend consideration of concurrence on bills from the Senate pending resolutions of the concerns that bills from the House were not been considered by the Senate.
The House had on different occasions complained that bills emanating from the Green Chamber are seldom treated when sent for concurrence to the Senate, but the situation is not the same in the House.
However, the House received about four bills from the Senate for concurrence this week, but the speaker directed that the bill should be stepped down pending the resolution of the imbroglio.
The immediate past deputy speaker of the House, Yussuf Lasun once contended that the senate was superior, not superior to the House of Representatives in terms of their functionality. Despite that the president of the Senate is the chairman of the National Assembly, the suggestive idea that the upper chamber, which consists of a fewer number of legislators is superior to the lower chambers at best remains within the realms of respect embedded in the African culture.
There is no doubt about the fact that the senate parades older Nigerians especially those who have served in various political capacities, either as former members of the House of Representatives or former governor of a state. This, however, does not confer any legitimate superiority on the Senate over the House.
In every step of the legislative process, Senate or the House cannot conclusively pass a law except and until it’s passed by both chambers.
In the United States where Nigeria copied its presidential system of democracy, the Senate has 100 members and is the upper house of the Congress. It is called the upper house because it has fewer members than the House of Representatives and has powers not granted to the House, such as approving appointments of Cabinet secretaries and federal judges.
The House of Representatives is referred to as the lower house of the United States Congress it has more Members than the Senate. It also has powers not granted to the Senate, like the ability to elect the President if the Electoral College is tied.
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