By Ado Hassan, Sokoto
No fewer than five key motions including that moved for the funding of Nigeria’s foreign missions were yesterday passed by the senate at it sitting presided by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki with Senator Dr. Aliyu Wamakko, others in attendance.
However, Senator Wamakko(APC-Sokoto) at the sitting after returning from an official visit to Niger republic to strengthen bilateral talks on two countries with President Muhammadou Isufou, had with other colleagues in the senate passed a Motion on the urgent need for the Federal Government of Nigeria to adequately fund its foreign missions.
This, the senators said according to a statement by the Special Assistant to Senator Wamakko on Media and Publicity Bashir Rabe Mani was sequel to challenges being faced by the missions of their inability to pay the allowances, salaries and rent of home-based office.
Additionally, ” there are several hanging threats by a few host countries to revoke the building permits of some properties abroad that belong to Nigerian missions.”
In this regard, the Senate moved to ensure that immediate action is taken to rectify this problem by working with foreign Ministers, ambassadors and stakeholders to develop solutions to ensure that are missions are adequately funded.
Besides, the statement said first on the list of Motions passed was on the need for Nigeria to begin the process of constructing Captive Dams in Communities across the country. This will allow us to increase the amount of fresh water that is available in many of our communities, as well as reduce the drilling of boreholes, which have long-term environmental problem;
The second was on the urgent need to control the indiscriminate erection of speed bumps on Nigeria’s federal roads. Speed bumps are effective with regulating traffic, however, the indiscriminate construction of these bumps often leads to the accelerated wear and tear of vehicles. This is why the Senate resolved to direct the Federal Government to remove all indiscriminate speed bumps on federal highways;
The third Motion was on the boundary crisis, which arises from the non-delimitation of Nigeria’s internal boundaries. This often leads to boundary disputes between neighboring communities. This is why today, we resolved to urge the National Boundary Commission to take immediate steps to stop the lingering boundary crisis in Nigeria;
Also passed was the Motion on the need to address the regulatory conflicts between JAMB and universities in the admission’s process into tertiary institutions. In order to remove the regulatory bottlenecks in the system, the Senate has resolved to invite the Committees on Education and TETFUND to organize a stakeholders meeting with the Ministry of Education, JAMB and other stakeholders in the education sector to review the UTME issue, come up with solutions and report back to the Senate in 4 weeks;
