Senate Of Nigeria

The National Assembly (popularly referred to as NASS) is the nation's legislature and has the power to make laws, as summarized in chapter one, section four of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria. The lower chamber is the House of Representatives.

Senate
10th National Assembly
Type
Type	Upper house of the National Assembly of Nigeria
Term limits	None
History
New session started	13 June 2023 (2023-06-13)
Leadership
President	Godswill Akpabio, APC since 13 June 2023
Deputy President	Barau Jibrin, APC since 13 June 2023
Majority Leader	Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, APC since 4 July 2023
Minority Leader	Patrick Abba Moro, PDP since 21 November 2023
Majority Whip	Mohammed Ali Ndume, APC since 4 July 2023
Minority Whip	Osita Ngwu, PDP since 21 November 2023
Structure
Seats	109
Political groups	Majority (59)   All Progressives Congress (59) Minority (37)   People's Democratic Party (37) Others (13)   Labour Party (7)   New Nigeria Peoples Party (2)   Social Democratic Party (2)   All Progressives Grand Alliance (1)   Action Democratic Party (1)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post voting
Last election	25-26 February 2023
Next election	27 February 2027
Meeting place
National Assembly Complex Abuja, FCT, Nigeria
Website
www.nass.gov.ng
Constitution
Constitution of Nigeria
Rules
placng.org/i/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Senate-Standing-Orders-2015-as-Amended.pdf

The President of the Senate is the presiding officer of the Senate, whose chief function is to guide and regulate the proceedings in the Senate. The Senate President is second in the Nigerian presidential line of succession. He is assisted by the Deputy President of the Senate. The current Senate President is Sen. Godswill Akpabio and the current Deputy Senate President is Sen. Barau Jibrin, 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 Senate consists of 109 senators. The 36 states of Nigeria are each divided into 3 senatorial districts, with each district electing one senator using the first-past-the-post electoral system. The Federal Capital Territory elects only one senator at-large, also using first-past-the-post.

Senators serve a term of four years. There are no term limits and senators can remain in the chamber for as long as they are re-elected in general elections.

The majority party is the party that has a majority of seats, either alone or as the main party of a coalition or caucus. 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.

State delegations

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.