A power outage in the Senate wing of the National Assembly Complex on Tuesday caused a delay in the commencement of the day’s plenary session. The outage, which lasted several hours, forced lawmakers to start the session about two hours behind schedule.
Despite the statutory schedule for plenary to commence at 10 a.m., the session did not start until about 12 p.m. when power was restored and the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, arrived in the chamber.
The outage caused discomfort in the chamber, particularly for senators who had arrived early for the day’s business.
Rule 8 sub-section (2) of the Senate Standing Rule (as amended) mandates that plenary should commence by 10 a.m. on every legislative day.
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Mr. Akpabio later explained that the outage made him arrive late for the plenary and apologized to the lawmakers for the inconvenience. He also noted that about nine offices within the complex were affected by the outage.
According to Chairman of the Committee on Senate Services, Sunday Karimi, the power outage was caused by a fault in the generator. However, the fault was subsequently rectified, and the session proceeded after power was restored.
