The Senate during Tuesday’s Plenary Session, passed two bills of Senator Barau Jibrin which scaled through various stages of the legislative process.
The four bills include:
The Nigeria Communications Commission Act (Amendment) Bill, 2026, scaled through First Reading.
A Bill to Establish a Comprehensive, Legal, Regulatory and Supervisory Framework for Virtual Assets, Digital Assets Service Providers operating within the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and for related matters, 2026, scaled through second reading.
A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria Act and Enact the Chartered Governance Institute of Nigeria to make provisions for determining the standards, knowledge and skills to be attained by persons seeking to become members of the of the Institute, 2026 which scaled through second reading.
A Bill for an Act to provide for the Establishment of the Chartered Institute of Safety Engineers of Nigeria to regulate Safety Engineering Practice, Control, and determine the standards of knowledge to be attained by people seeking to become Chartered Safety Engineers, 2026 which scaled through second reading.
The bills were referred to relevant committees for further legislative scrutiny.
The Chief Whip, Senator Mohammad Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno) read the lead debate on behalf of Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin as he presided over the plenary session.
He noted that the world over, virtual assets, from cryptocurrency to blockchain-based tokens have become an integral part of modern economic life and Nigeria ranks among the top users of virtual assets globally.
Yet, there exists a lacuna in terms of a comprehensive regulatory legal framework in this very important sector. While innovation in the sector has surged, regulation has lagged. The bill, therefore seeks to close this yawning gap with a legal framework that will ensure that those within the sector are compliant with laws designed to protect the public and the financial system.
Furthermore, the senate also debated and adopted a motion moved by Senator Sunday Marshall Katung (Kaduna South) and co-sponsored by the Deputy Senate Presient and several other Senators on the urgent need to revive the textile industry in Nigeria. While summing up the debate on the motion, I noted that it is something that touches on our overall well-being as Nigerians and on our economy. We have lost thousands of jobs and livelihoods due to the collapse of our textile industry. By importing 99% of our textile needs, we invariably create jobs for the countries we import from while denying our teeming population these same jobs.
We need to reverse this trend to strengthen our economy and the welfare of the people.
