A week after the House of Representatives threatened to halt further consideration of the Senate’s bills over delayed concurrence, Senate President Godswill Akpabio has moved to de-escalate tensions as he promised that the upper chamber will clear the backlog of House-passed bills within two weeks.

Also, the Senate passed the National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill, 2025, sponsored by Shuaib Salisu (APC, Ogun Central), through its second reading, setting the stage for the country’s most comprehensive legal framework yet for Artificial Intelligence (AI), secure electronic transactions and public sector digitisation.

Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on Akpabio to immediately comply with a Federal High Court ruling by recalling Kogi Central senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, to the Senate.

However, Akpoti-Uduaghan shelved her earlier plan to resume plenary yesterday following the court’s nullification of her suspension, opting instead to await the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment.

The Senate President gave the two-week assurance yesterday during the second House of Representatives open week at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.

Akpabio’s pledge follows growing dissatisfaction among lawmakers in the green chamber over the Senate’s “habitual neglect” of bills transmitted by the House.

During plenary last week, Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, led a protest in the National Assembly, causing the House to step down a Senate bill to establish an orthopaedic hospital in Osun State.

Chinda, supported by many of his colleagues, accused the Senate of failing to treat House bills with equal urgency.

He cited critical legislation that remained unattended for over six months.

Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, who confirmed that 146 bills were awaiting Senate concurrence, ruled in favour of stepping down the Senate-sponsored bill after lawmakers insisted that further action should be suspended until the Senate shows commitment to reciprocate.

But Akpabio, yesterday, revealed that six bills from the House had already been passed by the Senate, with four more undergoing consideration, adding that the red chamber respects the legislative output of the green chamber.

He commended the idea of the Legislative Open Week, describing it as a vital platform for citizens to understand the responsibilities of lawmakers and engage constructively with Parliament.

Leading the debate, Salisu described the bill as “a strategic pillar for 21st-century governance, economic diversification and national competitiveness,” emphasising that it would institutionalise responsible AI deployment, digital skills development and modernised e-government service delivery.

According to Salisu, the legislation seeks to close longstanding gaps in Nigeria’s digital policy environment addressing legal ambiguities around electronic transactions, fragmented public service delivery, and the absence of robust regulation for rapidly evolving technologies like AI.

In a statement shared via its official X account, yesterday, SERAP condemned the senator’s suspension, describing it as a “grave violation” of the Constitution and international human rights obligations.

It stated: “Senate President Godswill Akpabio must immediately obey the court order and ensure the smooth return of Sen Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to the Senate today or any other day of her choosing.

“She should never have been suspended in the first place. Her suspension is a grave violation of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended) and international human rights treaties to which Nigeria is a signatory.”

SERAP also demanded the restoration of all Akpoti-Uduaghan’s legislative rights, entitlements, and privileges, urging the leadership of the red chamber to respect the rule of law.

The Kogi Central lawmaker, who had initially declared her intention to return to the red chamber immediately, made a last-minute volte-face, saying her next steps would depend on the availability of the court document.

Her shift came as tension gripped the National Assembly, with an unusual security build-up hinting at expectations of a dramatic return, possibly echoing her controversial chopper landing in Kogi after being blocked from holding a rally.

Despite public sentiment and the court’s declaration that her suspension was unconstitutional and excessive, a purported legal advisory dated July 5 from the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), insisted that the judgment offered no enforceable directive mandating her reinstatement.

Speaking on AIT, the Kogi senator defended her continued service during the suspension, citing completed development projects and progress on key bills, particularly her proposed Gold Reserve Bill.

She warned that her exclusion from the Senate not only undermines representation for Kogi Central but also deepens the gender gap in the National Assembly, where female senators dropped from eight to just three.