Senate Bars 10 TV Stations, Probes $18.5bn Abandoned Centenary City Project

The Senate yesterday barred at least 10 television stations from covering its proceedings.

The development has reduced the number of TV stations having access to the gallery to just seven. They are Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Channels TV, African Independent Television (AIT), Television Continental (TVC), Arise News, Newage and ADBN.

The leadership of the Press Corps had last Wednesday met with the Clerk of the Senate to resolve issues relating to covering proceedings in the chamber. However, the contentious issues were not resolved as the Upper House went ahead to bar some TV stations from covering its plenary sessions.

This is similar to the scenario in 2017 during the Bukola Saraki Senate Presidency when the number of cameramen and photojournalists covering the Senate was pruned down from about 40 to 13.

Meanwhile, the Senate yesterday set up a seven-member ad hoc committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the non-completion of the $18.5 billion Abuja Centenary Economic City project, a decade after its commencement.

The Senate mandated the committee to review the original Public Private Partnership agreement and recommend amendments, if necessary to facilitate the smooth and expeditious completion of the project.

The apex legislative chamber also urged the Federal Government to prioritise the revival of the Centenary City project by providing appropriate support, resolving regulatory issues and addressing any other impediments, given its beneficial potential to the economy and people of Nigeria after 10 years of stalled progress.

The resolutions followed the consideration of a motion titled: ‘Urgent need to revive and complete the stalled Centenary City Project, to realise its economic and development potential’ during plenary.