President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has charged standing committees to ensure the discharge of their duties with a view to addressing major challenges facing the nation.

Lawan gave the charge in his remarks during the inauguration of the standing committees of the Senate.

He spoke just as the Senate received the report of the ad hoc committee on the ninth Senate Legislative Agenda from its chairman, Adamu Aliero.

The consideration and adoption of the report is slated for today (Thursday) to enable senators time to read and digest the report for effective contributions during the debate.

Aliero listed youth empowerment to curb unemployment, and poverty alleviation to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty as part of the agenda.

He said the agenda also entailed legislative framework to tackle the phenomenon of out-of-school children in the country.

Others are creation of special health centres in the six geopolitical zones and reduction of acute housing deficit in the country.

The senator said the agenda also comprised legislative measures to further enhance gender equality, address infrastructure deficit and agricultural production, as well as fast-track passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill and holistic reform of the oil and gas sector.

The committee chairman said the Senate would also work to further block revenue leakages, support anti-corruption efforts and make procurement processes less cumbersome.

The National Assembly would ensure openness of its budget to the public, he said.

“By throwing open the budget of the National Assembly, Nigerians will know that we have nothing to hide,” Aliero said.

During plenary, Lawan said: “Our country is facing the challenges of insecurity while our largely youthful population is affected by unemployment, among other problems. Fortunately, we are also blessed with abundant agricultural land.

“We are similarly endowed with abundant solid minerals in all parts of our country. The oil and gas resources have remained our major source of revenue. Our challenges can be appropriately addressed with our rich endowments. What we require, therefore, is the strategic deployment of those resources.

“We can plan and use our agricultural potential to achieve not only national food security, but also process for export. Again, our solid minerals sector is largely untapped and we can exploit those resources through the right policies and supportive legislations.”

He, therefore, called on relevant standing committees to look into challenges such as insecurity and unemployment, as well as ensure reforms in the petroleum and agricultural sectors of the economy with a view to addressing them through the instrument of legislation.

Almost 20 years since the first attempt was made to unbundle the oil and gas sector, through the passage into law of a Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the Senate has made a fresh pledge that a new law would come on stream before the end of 2020.

Lawan, who made the disclosure on the floor of the Senate yesterday while inaugurating the 70 standing committees, said the oil and gas industry was almost stagnant.

He charged the relevant oil and gas-related committees to work hard and come up with a comprehensive PIB, which must be passed before the end of 2020.

The eighth National Assembly passed the same bill in 2017/2018, but was vetoed by President Buhari. An attempt by the National Assembly to override the veto of the President didn’t scale through.

Lawan called for deeper reform of the petroleum industry: “Our petroleum industry is almost stagnant and for long needing profound reform. Our oil and gas-related committees are, therefore, expected to work hard to take the lead in our determination to reform this vital sector.

“It is the desire, indeed the design of this Senate, that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is passed before the end of 2020.

“The security architecture of our country has not achieved the desired results of providing the needed security to our citizens. Our security agencies need better funding and other resources for better performance.

“As security is a fundamental responsibility of government, no amount of investment is too much. Our security-related committees are, therefore, challenged to assess and review both the architecture and structure of our security agencies towards improved efficiency.”

He urged ministers and heads of ministries, departments and agencies to cooperate with the committees where necessary, to deliver on the agenda of the Buhari administration.

“As we set to start our committee activities, the Senate expects the total cooperation of the executive arm of government. The Senate expects the honourable ministers and heads of agencies of government to be forthcoming and responsive to the engagement requests of our committees.

“Our committees will undertake regular oversight, with a view to ensuring that government programmes and projects are properly executed for the benefit of our citizens.”