OrderPaperToday – On the bills chart, the 24-member Lagos State contingent in the 9th House of Representatives has a total of 75 bills at midterm. Meanwhile, the three senators from the state have sponsored 21 bills within the same period. Thus, the total bills presented by both chambers’ representatives from Lagos stands at 96 bills. It is rather impressive despite a turbulent 2020.
Sen. Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Lagos West) has sponsored 11 bills, two of which have been passed by the Senate. These bills are both establishment bills to establish technology universities in Ilaro and Yaba, respectively. His other bills are split between committee and first reading stages in the senate.
Sen. Oluremi Tinubu (APC, Lagos Central) comes in second with five bills. While three of these have been read for the first time, two have been passed by the Senate – the Nigeria Postal Service Bill 2021; and the Criminal Code Act (Amendment) Bill 2019, which ‘redefines’ rape to the extent that both females and males can be victims of rape. It is a shift from the previous provision that focuses on only a “man committing rape when he has carnal knowledge of a woman against her will, without her consent, or if that consent was gotten by coercion”. Tinubu is one of the twenty female (8 in Senate and 12 in the House) federal lawmakers out of 469 elected into the 9th Assembly. It is also her third time in the Senate, having been in the 7th and 8th Assemblies.
Lastly is Sen. Mukhail Abiru (APC, Lagos East), who is new in the Senate. Despite just assuming office in December 2020 upon the death of the previous Senator (Sikiru Adebayo Osinowo), Abiru has sponsored five bills.
