OrderPaper: In two years, Oduah, Ekwunife have highest number of bills at n’assembly

OrderPaper Nigeria, a media organisation dedicated to reporting parliamentary issues, says since the inception of the ninth senate, Stella Oduah, senator representing Anambra north, and Uche Ekwunife, senator representing Anambra central, have sponsored the highest number of bills.

The current senate was inaugurated in June 2019.

In a statement on Wednesday, Oke Epia, executive director of OrderPaper Nigeria, said Oduah and Ekwunife have sponsored 35 and 23 bills, respectively, while Ifeanyi Ubah, senator representing Anambra south, has 20 bills to his name.

Epia said, in total, Anambra lawmakers in the senate and house of representatives have sponsored 141 bills in two years.

The executive director said the mid-term report is in “continuation of the consistent data-driven periodic analysis of performance of the national assembly”.

“Female lawmakers from Anambra lead the pack in terms of sponsorship as the State posted a total of 141 bills in the first two years of the 9th National Assembly. Conversely, 14 lawmakers from Jigawa State were able to make do with only 22 bills in the same period under review,” he said.

“These were some of the highlights of the second batch of NASS Report Card released by OrderPaper Nigeria, focusing on Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Nasarawa, Jigawa and Bauchi states.

“Seven members of the house of representatives from Jigawa State had no bill in two years, while the three senators had 5 bills between them.

“It is very interesting to note that some members have no bills sponsored in two years of the four-year tenure, while others have made concerted efforts in sponsoring a reasonable number of bills.

“Similarly, there is high performance variation between new and returning members of parliament, particularly in the house of representatives.

“Some legislators improved on their impressive start recorded in the first legislative year analysis, while others receded in performance. The release of the report cards of other states will continue weekly until all states of the country are all covered.”