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The Uncommon Legislative Engine: A record of reform from Nigeria’s 10th Senate

Published

9 months ago

October 13, 2025

Whirlwindnews

Rt Hon Eseme Eyiboh

It is a peculiar feature of Nigerian political commentary that verifiable evidence is often sacrificed on the altar of sentiment. A recent Editorial of Leadership Sunday questioning the relevance of the 10th Senate and portraying it as a mere appendage of the executive, though expressing the legitimate anguish of citizens battling hunger and insecurity, falters when confronted with fact. Far from being the “worst in history,” the Senate under Godswill Akpabio has demonstrated a record of legislative productivity and reform unmatched since 1999. _Res Ipsa Liquitor_

Consider the arithmetic of governance. Since its inauguration in June 2023, the 10th Senate has passed more than 90 bills, about 58 of which have already received presidential assent. This is not mere legislative noise. It is measurable productivity that, when set beside its predecessors, reveals a striking pattern. At a comparable stage, the 8th Senate had passed only 32 bills, and the 9th roughly 58. By every empirical yardstick, the current Senate stands as one of the most productive in our annals. To label it the “worst in history” is to abandon fact for fiction.

In very clear terms, the architecture of national power is being re-written through bold legislative engineering. The amendment to the Nigeria Electricity Act is a cornerstone of this transformation. For the first time, states have concurrent authority to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity. What once stood as a federal monopoly has been prised open to allow innovation and competition. The implications are far-reaching. With this reform, states can harness their energy potential to power industries, light homes, and drive productivity. This is not tinkering with policy; it is the legal dismantling of one of Nigeria’s longest-standing developmental bottlenecks.

Furthermore, economic reform is also finding a firmer footing. The Nigeria Tax and the Fiscal Policy Reform Acts have begun to harmonise a previously fragmented tax system. For a country whose tax-to-GDP ratio has hovered around 10 percent, far below the continental average, these laws are vital for building fiscal strength. A nation cannot feed its citizens or fund security without a functioning treasury. To lament hunger while opposing the laws that create the means to combat it is to contradict reason. These fiscal reforms lay the groundwork for a stronger, fairer economy, capable of sustaining social programmes and reducing the state’s chronic dependence on oil revenues.

On the matter of human capital, the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act and the creation of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund mark an ambitious stride towards inclusive education. The initiative has already benefited over half a million students who would otherwise have been excluded from higher learning. Admittedly, its implementation has faced teething challenges, but the spirit of the law is clear. It represents a long-term investment in Nigeria’s youth, betting that a more educated populace will, in time, erode the poverty that has long undermined stability.

Security, that most sacred contract between government and the governed, is being treated with corresponding seriousness. The Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons Act and the modernisation of the Defence Industries Corporation demonstrate an understanding that security begins with structure, not sentiment. Nigeria’s struggle against banditry and terrorism has been sustained in part by the unchecked proliferation of weapons and a reliance on foreign imports. These legislative interventions signal a strategic shift towards building domestic capacity for defence and reining in the flow of illicit arms. The journey to security reform is arduous, but it must begin somewhere, and the Senate has ensured that it begins with law.

The legislature has also ventured into politically perilous but necessary territory with its institutional reforms. The Police Professionalism and Accountability Act and the Fiscal Responsibility and Transparency Act are designed to embed transparency and oversight in the daily operations of governance. They seek to tame the excesses of power and promote accountability in law enforcement and public finance alike. Alongside these sits the Local Government Autonomy Act, a daring effort to bring power closer to the people. Though its constitutional journey is ongoing, its intention is unmistakable: to return the grassroots to the heart of governance and rebuild the foundations of federalism from below.

Without a doubt, fiscal discipline remains a recurring motif in the 10th Senate’s record. The passage of the 2025 Appropriation Act on schedule reflects a renewed commitment to budgetary order. The restoration of the January-to-December cycle has restored predictability to public finance and signalled seriousness to both investors and citizens. Concerns about implementation and oversight are valid, but they do not diminish the importance of timely passage. The Senate’s work ensures that the machinery of state does not grind to a halt in bureaucratic indecision.

Attention has also turned to social justice through legislation on the National Minimum Wage. While enforcement remains uneven across tiers of government, the intent is clear: to lift living standards and close the gap between income and dignity. Much has been made of the disparity between senators’ pay and the earnings of ordinary workers, yet such comparisons ignore constitutional structures. Lawmakers do not determine their own salaries. The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission performs that role. The same Senate has, through the Fiscal Responsibility Act, sought to rationalise public expenditure and ensure value for every naira spent, including its own.

In a lighter but necessary correction, one must also reject the outdated notion that hardship can be measured by whether a senator’s wife and an ordinary worker’s wife shop in the same market. This lazy metaphor misreads the modern Nigerian household. Men and women alike share economic burdens and daily realities. Inflation and scarcity are democratic in their cruelty. It is through sound policy, not gendered clichés, that these challenges will be overcome.

A word too must be said about Senator Godswill Akpabio himself. Long before the Senate gavel, his name was synonymous with transformative governance. As governor of Akwa Ibom State, he redefined infrastructural ambition and social investment, turning the capital city of Uyo into a symbol of modern administration and introducing education and healthcare programmes that uplifted lives. His reputation as the “Uncommon Transformer” was not manufactured in praise but built in policy. That same drive for visible results now guides his leadership in the Senate, where he has channelled executive energy into legislative purpose.

The accusation that the Senate has become a mere department of the executive is perhaps the most laughable. Legislative independence is not defined by public quarrels but by productive engagement. The relationship between the arms of government is not meant to be adversarial theatre but a coordinated pursuit of national interest. The Electricity Act, the Defence Industries Corporation Act, and the Tax Reform Acts all emerged from this constructive collaboration. These are not signs of subservience but of strategic governance.

Let there be no misunderstanding, the hardships Nigerians face are severe and immediate. Hunger, insecurity, and joblessness remain the daily reality for millions. But no legislature anywhere can legislate hunger away overnight. What the Senate can and must do is craft the instruments of reform. These 90 laws, 58 of which have already taken effect, are the scaffolding upon which a stronger Nigeria may yet be built.

The work ahead lies in diligent execution by the executive and unwavering oversight by the legislature. The Senate has provided the legal architecture. The nation must now insist on its faithful implementation. For when laws begin to live in the lives of citizens, when they move from text to transformation, the quiet labour of the 10th Senate will be recognised for what it truly is: an uncommon legislative engine driving the nation’s long march toward renewal. _Res Ipsa Liquitor_

•Rt Hon Eseme Eyiboh Special Adviser, Media/Publicity and official Spokesperson to the President of the Senate

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BREAKING: Court sentences Nigerien, two others to death over terrorism

Published

2 days ago

June 24, 2026

Whirlwindnews

Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging, after convicting them on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.

The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad, were apprehended on 13th June, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit in connection with cross-border criminal activities bordering on arms trafficking and terrorism.

Bello, who found all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging, while also ordering the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government, said: “The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria.”

The sentencing is coming about two weeks after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sentenced each of the five suspects arrested on May 31, 2026, by the DSS for their involvement in the November 21, 2025, attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years’ imprisonment.

Justice Binta Nyako, had handed down the judgment after the men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all four terrorism-related charges, bordering on support for the commission of an act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, were pressed against them.

According to Count One, the men were accused of jointly conspiring to assist a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu, Niger State, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

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BREAKING: Primate Ayodele to pay Kwankwaso N10billion over Obi betrayal claim!

Published

3 days ago

June 24, 2026

Whirlwindnews

Primate Elijah Ayodele, is on the verge of coughing out a whopping N10billion, if he fails to offer unrestrained apology to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State within the next 24 hours, and retract his claim that the former Minister of Defence is bidding his time to betray Peter Obi, to whom he is to contest the 2027 presidential election as a running mate.

Without doing so, the controversial cleric, should be ready for a major court battle with the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the platform on which the pair is to contest the election.

In a letter indicating a legal action against Ayodele of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church over defamatory remarks, Kwankwaso, through Magaji Mato Ibrahim, SAN & Co., his lawyers demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the cleric over the allegations.

Details of the letter, dated June 11, and unveiled through the X platform of the legal team, was based on a viral video recorded during a live-streamed church service, where the preacher made allegations targeting Kwankwaso’s integrity as Peter Obi’s running mate under the NDC.

Quoting the cleric as stating: “KWANKWASO IS A FAKE TO OBI, KWANKWASO WILL BETRAY YOU. KWANKWASO HAS BEEN PAID TO BE VICE PRESIDENT TO OBI AMONG OTHER LIBELOUS COMMENTS WHILE PRETENDING TO BE A PREACHER,” the former governor said the comments were unprovoked, grossly unfounded, and carefully designed to create a rift within the ranks of the political party and its supporters.

Handing Ayodele a 24-hour ultimatum to publish a full and unequivocal retraction across all social media platforms and news outlets with the same prominence as the original video, they also demanded a written undertaking that he would cease and desist from making any further malicious statements against their client, warning that failure to comply, would lead to full legal actions.

The letter stated: “We shall claim substantial damages to the tune of Ten Billion Naira and cost of the action on a full indemnity basis amongst other reliefs.”

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Exploitation of African minerals must stop now – Tinubu *Demands local processing

Published

3 days ago

June 24, 2026

Whirlwindnews

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday demanded the immediate end to the exportation of minerals from countries in Africa in their raw forms, which he said had led to massive exploitation of the continent.

The President, told member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), a forum of Ministers in charge of Mining and Solid Minerals on the continent to speak with one voice to promote, collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the world.

As the Grand Patron of the group, chaired by Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, gave the charge while receiving a delegation of AMSG in the State House, Tinubu told the delegation that the group had a critical role to play in strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in the global mineral market and ensuring that the continent derives maximum value from its natural resources.

His words: “ What we should do is avoid bureaucracy and deceit; we must put an end to exploitation. The rest of the world won’t mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value.

“It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it. It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery. I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent. So why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people.”

Emphasising that Africa possessed enormous mineral wealth that should be strategically harnessed to drive industrialisation, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation across the continent, the President, said the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must give way to a new model that encourages investment in local industries, technology transfer and the development of value chains that retain wealth within Africa.

Alake, who had earlier expressed gratitude to the President for his exemplary leadership under the Renewed Hope Agenda, said the gesture had shown support for Nigeria’s mineral sector, especially in the local value-addition and economic diversification drive, where artisanal miners are empowered.

He told the President: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.

“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.

“So, sir, we have gone implemented your charge and we are quitted that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”

He added that some member countries have gone ahead to ban the export of raw minerals.

He explained members of the body were in Abuja for the Fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS 2026), to push for a new continental approach to resource management and industrial development.

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