As the National Assembly still awaits the 2015 Appropriation Bill from President Goodluck Jonathan, the Senate yesterday assured that it would be passed into law before the end of 2014.
The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary while welcoming senators from the Sallah break, announced that in a few weeks, the Senate would receive the 2015 Appropriation Bill from the President for consideration, adding that it would be passed before December this year.
Senator Ekweremadu also assured that the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, and the Constitutional Review Amendment Bill would be given accelerated hearing for passage.
But the letter from President Jonathan to introduce the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for the 2015 and the Fiscal Responsibility Act was not read.
Meanwhile, the Senate has passed into law the Bill establishing the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, and mandated the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, to contribute at least two percent of its gross receipts for the university.
The Senate also recommended that the university shall offer courses in Petroleum technology, provided overseas courses would be sponsored by the PTDF and other govern-ment agencies only in respect of the courses not available at the university upon certification.
The Senate also adopted the Harmonized Conference Report on National Health Bill, 2014, which was recently passed into law by the National Assembly and urged President Jonathan to expedite action in appending his signature to the law.
