The Senate is the
upper chamber of Nigeria's bicameral
legislature, the
National Assembly of
Nigeria. The National Assembly (popularly referred to as NASS) is the nation's highest legislature, whose power is to make laws, is summarized in chapter one, section four of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. It consists of 109
senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
s: the
36 states are each divided in 3 senatorial districts each electing one senator using the
first-past-the-post electoral system; the
Federal Capital Territory
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...
elects only one senator also using
first-past-the-post.
The
President of the Senate
President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies.
The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...
is the presiding officer of the Senate, whose chief function is to guide and regulate the proceedings in the Senate. The Senate President is third in the
Nigerian presidential line of succession. He is assisted by the Deputy President of the Senate. The current
Senate President is Sen.
Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan and the current
Deputy Senate President is
Ovie Omo-Agege, both members of the
APC. The Senate President and his Deputy are also assisted by principal officers including the Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Chief Whip, Deputy Chief Whip, Minority Whip, and Deputy Minority Whip. In addition, there are 63 Standing Committees in the Senate chaired by Committee Chairmen.
The
lower chamber is the
House of Representatives.
State Delegations
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Abia
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Adamawa
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Akwa Ibom
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Anambra
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Bauchi
Bauchi (earlier Yakoba) is a city in northeast Nigeria, the Administrative center of Bauchi State, of the Bauchi Local Government Area within that State, and of the traditional Bauchi Emirate. It is located on the northern edge of the Jos Plateau ...
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Bayelsa
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Benue
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Borno
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Cross River
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Delta
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Ebonyi
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Edo
Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo.
Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...
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Ekiti
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Enugu
Enugu ( ; ) is the capital city of Enugu State in Nigeria. It is located in southeastern part of Nigeria. The city had a population of 820,000 according to the 2022 Nigerian census. The name ''Enugu'' is derived from the two Igbo words ''Énú ...
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Gombe
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Imo
IMO or Imo may refer to:
Biology and medicine
* Irish Medical Organisation, the main organization for doctors in the Republic of Ireland
* Intelligent Medical Objects, a privately held company specializing in medical vocabularies
* Isomaltooligos ...
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Jigawa
Jigawa State (Hausa: ''Jihar Jigawa'' (Fula Leydi Jigawa 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤮𞤤 𞤶𞤭𞤺𞤢𞤱𞤢) is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, located in the northern region of the country. Created in 1991 from the northeastern-most region of Kan ...
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Kaduna
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Kano
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Katsina
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Kebbi
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Kogi
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Kwara
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Lagos
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Nasarawa
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Niger
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Ogun
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Ondo Ondo may refer to:
Japan
* Ondo, Hiroshima
* Ondo (music), a style of folk music
* ''Ondo'' class oiler, ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Nigeria
* Ondo City
* Ondo State
* Roman Catholic Diocese of Ondo
* Ondo Kingdom (c. 1510–1899)
People ...
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Osun
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Oyo Oyo can refer to:
Places Nigeria
* Oyo Empire, a former Yoruba state that covered parts of Nigeria and Benin, or the capital city
* Oyo State, a present-day state of Nigeria named after the Oyo Empire
* Oyo, Oyo State, a city founded in the 18 ...
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Plateau
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Rivers
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
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Sokoto
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Taraba
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Yobe
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Zamfara
Zamfara (Hausa: Jihar Zamfara Fula: Leydi Zamfara 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤶𞤢𞤥𞤬𞤢𞤪𞤢) is a state in northwestern Nigeria. The capital of Zamfara state is Gusau and its current Governor is Bello Matawalle. Until 1996, the area was ...
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FCT
Functions of the Senate
Legislation
Bills may be introduced in either chamber of the
National Assembly.
Checks and Balances
The
constitution provides several unique functions for the Senate that form its ability to "check and balance" other elements of the
Federal Government of Nigeria. These include the requirement that the Senate may advise and must consent to some of the President's government appointments; also the Senate must consent to all treaties with foreign governments and it tries all
impeachments.
Majority and minority parties
The "
Majority party" is the party that either has a majority of seats or can form a coalition or
caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.
The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...
with a majority of seats; if two or more parties are tied the Senate President's affiliation determines which party becomes the majority party. The second largest party is the
Minority party.
Term
Senators are to serve a term of four years until a General election. Senators have unlimited tenure
and can remain in the chamber for as long as they are re-elected in general elections.
References
External links
*
Map of Nigeria States' Senatorial Districts(Each Nigerian state has 3 senatorial districts.)
{{National upper houses
Nigeria
National Assembly (Nigeria)