SEVEN bills yesterday scaled through first reading in the House of Representatives.
They were Nigeria Ports and Harbour Authority Bill, 2015 (HB.50), Public Officers Protection Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (HB.54), National Agency for Training and Regulation of Vocational Trades (Establishment) Bill, 2015 (HB.55), National Youth Service Corps Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (HB. 80) and National Youth Service Corps Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (HB. 82).
Other bills that went through first reading were the National Council for Elderly Persons (Establishment) Bill, 2015 (HB. 84) and Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill, 2015 (HB.86).
Five motions slated on the Order Paper could not be taken because of the adjournment.
The House thereafter adjourned plenary to this morning to enable the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, attend the Council of State meeting at the Presidential Villa.
Deputy Speaker Yusuf Sulaimon Lasun, who would have stood in for the Speaker, is attending the International Parliamentary Union’s (IPU’s) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, as head of the Nigerian delegation.
According to him, the deputy speaker was not available because he was in Switzerland on a national assignment.
Yisa Orker-Jev (Benue-APC), who chairs the Ad Hoc Committee on Rules and Business, noted that the adjournment was in order and necessary to enable Dogara represent the legislature at the meeting.