Senate reaffirms commitment to entrenching rule of law

The Senate has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening the judiciary in order to consolidate the rule of law, institutionalise access to justice, preserve the constitutional freedoms, and improve access delivery in the administration of justice.

This was said by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, chairman of the senate committee on judiciary, human rights, and legal concerns, when Abubakar Malami, the minister of justice and attorney general of the federation, appeared before the senators to defend his ministry’s 2023 budget.

The Attorney General praised the National Assembly’s efforts to Nigeria’s adherence to international norms.

In a related development, the Senate is concerned that the revival of the aviation sector in terms of passenger traffic is not commensurate with the income accruing to Nigeria through the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria FAAN. The senators’ stance has been prompted by Nigeria’s recent ranking as the second-best country in the world for aviation industries that are recovering from a COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the FAAN has stated that the rating only occurred in the last two months and not from the beginning of this year, so the recent improvement in the sector might not show on the revenue. Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, MD of FAAN, added that as of September 30, 2022, 18.1 billion naira had already been transferred to the federation account.