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

Published

7 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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Why FG won’t get 12.5 per cent remaining stake in our refinery – Dangote

Published

24 minutes ago

May 14, 2026

Whirlwindnews

The door is now shut permanently in the face of the Federal Government towards taking up the 12.5 – being the remainder of its proposed 20 per cent stake in the Dangote Refineries, Africa’s first privately owned concern.

That means the government would now be stuck with the 7.5 per cent only it was able to pick up and which it currently holds in the $20 billion, 650 barrels per day capacity refinery, which came into operation in 2023 as the concern is insisting it is no longer interested in the remaining 12.5 per cent stake.

Instead of the government, the organisation, currently responsible for the supply of the major chunk of petroleum products in Nigeria and many parts of Africa, is now planning to bring in ordinary Nigerians into the mix to lap up the stake in the near future.

Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, who made the revelation, Nicolai Tangen, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), that the group had since rejected requests by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, to increase its 7.25 per cent stake in the firm.

The PUNCH, quoted the African Richest Man (ARM), as saying in the interview that the NNPC’s offer to increase its 7.25 per cent stake in the refinery was rejected because the company Dangote was planning to go public and give other Nigerians the opportunity to own shares in the plant.

Dangote had revealed that after acquiring the original 7.5 per cent in 2021, for $1bn, with an option to acquire the remaining 12.75 per cent stake by June 2024, NNPC Limited began to stall, and ended up reneging on its decision.

However, the national oil company had made attempts to acquire more stakes in the refinery, since that, but this was turned down, adding that the biggest risks the business could face were either civil war and government policy inconsistencies.

Hear him: “Actually, if there are civil wars, which is not in the offing at all. The other biggest risk is government inconsistencies in policies, and we are addressing that one because if you look at our refinery, the national oil company already owns 7.25 per cent, and they are trying to buy more. We are the ones that said no; we want to now spread it and have everybody be part of it.”

Dangote, had in 2014, informed Nigerians on how, Mele Kyari, former Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (GMD-CEO), had reduced NNPC’s stake in the refinery from 20 per cent to 7.25 per cent.

He had said then: “The agreement was actually 20 per cent, which we had with NNPC, and they did not pay the balance of the money up until last year; then we gave them another extension up until June (2024), and they said that they would remain where they had already paid, which is 7.2 per cent. So NNPC owns only 7.2 per cent, not 20 per cent.

The business mogul, who painted a seducing picture of what is at stake in the new opportunities, including the provision of getting dividends in foreign currencies, told his Norwegian host: “What we are announcing is that when you invest in any of our businesses going forward, in cement or in the refinery, in petrochemicals, in fertiliser, we guarantee to pay you a dividend in dollars because we are very well into exports. 80 per cent of our revenue will be in dollars.”

Explaining how he sourced funds for building the refinery, from various financial institutions, including Nigerian banks, he said the initial plan was to fund most of the construction work from our internally generated funds, but because of naira devaluation, the group had to rely on Afreximbank, Africa Finance Corporation, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, UBA and a couple of the local banks.

“But of course we also have a very good relationship with the Standard Bank of South Africa and, at the beginning, Standard Chartered Bank of the UK. We were lucky and what happened when the plant was completed turned out to be much more than our own expectations.”

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Succour for Fubara! Gets APC’s nod to contest for Rivers governorship

Published

2 hours ago

May 14, 2026

Whirlwindnews

The coast has brightened for Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, having been given the opportunity of obtaining the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for next year’s governorship election, contrary to reports in some quarters that he has been denied.

Vanguard reports that he was one of the 30 governors cleared by the party’s screening committee, including Hope Uzodimma of Imo, a two-term governor, who is currently eyeing a seat at the Senate.

Others cleared, included Sarafadeen Alli, former Secretary to the Oyo State Government (SSG), for the 2027, the report said, quoting sources, who revealed that the screening report was yet to be released due to a deluge of petitions flooding the party.

To beat the deadline by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for the submission of the list of the names of successful candidates, the party said it now would publish the names of cleared aspirants on May 13.

Regarding the dithering on the release of the 2,980, comprising of one aspirants for one presidential slot, 28 governorship, 109 Senate, 360 House of Representatives, and 991 state assembly positions, a source was quoted as saying: “We are still working on the screening report to make sure everything goes well. The day is not over yet.

“We received many petitions from the eight panels that conducted the primaries. For instance, one of the panels received 10 petitions and the petitions have to be treated on their merit.”

Regarding the fate of Fubara, the source was quoted as saying the governor, whose tenure has been dogged by much of internal and external battles even after joining the APC last year, the source confirmed that he was not disqualified as speculated.

His words: “Nooo! No governor has been booted out. The party has always supported its governors. Some of them like Uzodimma got automatic clearance. To ensure we have a united front in 2027, we are working towards consensus but where that fails, direct primaries will be held in accordance with the Electoral Act. We know some of the high-profile aspirants don’t want to consent, and are ready to go to court. We don’t want that.”

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Finally, police scrap notorious ‘Tiger Base’ after years of public outcries

Published

5 hours ago

May 14, 2026

Whirlwindnews

After years of public outcries by individuals, groups and civil society organisations, the Imo State Police Command finally took steps against the controversial Anti-Kidnapping Unit, popularly known as Tiger Base.

The agency, described by many as notorious for rights abuses, was scrapped, by the Command, along with other tactical squads with similar identities, which have now been replaced with a newly created Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU) aimed at tackling rising violent crimes across the state.

The development was announced at the Police Command Headquarters in Owerri, the Imo State capital, marking one of the most significant policing reforms in the state in recent years following growing public concerns over the activities of Tiger Base.

Other tactical formations affected by the disbandment include the Scorpion Unit and the Lion Squad, whose operations were closely linked to the now-defunct outfit.

Speaking during the inauguration of the new unit, the Commissioner of Police, CP Audu Garba Bosso, said the reform was in compliance with the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to reposition tactical operations nationwide and strengthen professionalism within the Force.

Bosso said the newly established VCRU would focus on intelligence-driven operations against armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism, terrorism, illegal possession of firearms, and other violent crimes.

According to him, officers drafted into the unit were carefully selected based on competence, discipline, integrity, and operational experience.

He disclosed that the operatives had undergone intensive training in tactical response, intelligence gathering, crisis management, and human rights compliance to ensure lawful and professional conduct.

“The inauguration of the VCRU reflects our commitment to professional policing, public safety, and improved service delivery to the people of Imo State,” the police commissioner stated.

In a move seen as an attempt to rebuild public trust, the command also inaugurated a Civilian Oversight Board comprising representatives of the Nigerian Bar Association, civil society organisations, traditional rulers, religious leaders, and the Nigeria Union of Journalists.

The board is expected to monitor the activities of the unit, receive complaints from members of the public, and provide independent feedback to the Commissioner of Police.

The event attracted top government officials, heads of security agencies, members of the Police Community Relations Committee, youth organisations, and human rights groups.

Governor Hope Uzodinma, represented by the Chief Principal Security Officer, ACP Gboyako Shaba Adamu, commended the initiative and pledged continued support for security agencies in combating insecurity across the state.

Observers believe the scrapping of Tiger Base and the creation of the VCRU may signal a new chapter in tactical policing in Imo State, especially amid increasing calls for accountability and respect for human rights by security operatives.

The ceremony featured the unveiling of the VCRU logo, presentation of its operational dress code, and goodwill messages from stakeholders.

Residents were urged to support the new unit with credible information to aid crime-fighting efforts across the state.

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