Senate President, Ahmed Lawan has decried what he described as a noisy chamber during plenary and appealed to his colleagues to always pay attention when issues are being debated on the floor of the Senate.
Lawan was particularly infuriated by the action of the Senators yesterday when they made noise instead of concentrating during plenary.
Lawan’s remarks followed a point of order raised by Sen George Sekibo (Rivers East) to alert the Senate President that the behaviors of the colleagues were becoming unruly.
Sekibo, while drawing attention of the Senate President to the conduct of his colleagues, said “the chamber is noisy.”
Aligning himself with the point of order raised by Senator Sekibo, Lawan said “The chamber is really noisy,” and urged the senators to always maintain decorum during plenary.
“Nigeria operates a Bi-cameral legislature, the Senate is viewed as the most composed without limited time for which one can make his or her contribution unlike what happens at the House of Representatives.
“The Senate is the ‘saucer that cools the tea,’ but the noisy atmosphere at the chamber today has proved otherwise,” the Senate President remarked explaining that Senator Sekibo’s point of order was upheld.
It would be recalled that most of the time, not only yesterday, some Senators converse freely during plenary even when serious Bills or Motions were being discussed.
The Senate President, it was observed, had always been distracted during plenary by those who consciously or unconsciously “approach the chair” to consult with him not minding the fact that a serious Bill or Motion is being considered.
It was observed that during such noisy plenary, some Senators seem not to understand when debate on a motion is concluded as they neither answer ‘nay’ nor ‘I’ when the Senate President put the question to seek their view on contribution of Senators to such a Bill or Motion.
Senate spokesman, Senator Godiya Akwashi while reacting to the matter said he was not in session when the incident happened that he was in a public hearing but that he didn’t think it was a serious matter that deserves attention.