The Senate has opposed the bill by the House of Representatives seeking immunity for members of the National Assembly.

The Senate said that the existing legislative powers and privileges act provide enough immunity for lawmakers, saying there is no need for further legal provisions for such.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said yesterday at a media briefing in Abuja that the legislative powers and privileges act provide enough immunity for every lawmaker within the precincts of the National Assembly.

Abaribe, however, commended President Goodluck Jonathan for sacking the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren.

It will be recalled that both the Senate and the House of Representatives had, in different resolutions, asked the President to sack Demuren for acts of gross incompetence.

Abaribe said: “Nobody in this country is indispensable. We can always find professionals everywhere in all facets of our national lives.”

He said that it was wrong for people to expect the Senate to be confrontational to the executive. The senator said such expectations, if met, would create crisis and work against effective governance of the country. Abaribe also commented on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which passed second reading in the Senate last week.

He denied the allegation that the bill split the Senate along North and South divide, saying contrary to such allegation, the bill united members of the upper chamber because they all agreed on the fact that it should be passed for the interest of the entire country



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