The House of Representatives has rejected the bill for a constitutional life pension to Senate President, Speaker and their Deputies.

When the bill was put to voting, 162 House of Representatives members voted against it while three abstained.

The bill is titled, “Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide Pension for Presiding Officers of the National Assembly; and for Related Matters.”

It was rejected during the voting process at both chambers on Tuesday.

But when lawmakers were called upon to register and vote on the said legislation, less than the required number voted.

Although the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, did not announce the number of senators that registered, he simply said the bill has “conclusively failed.”

“This bill has conclusively failed,” he said, trying to control his laughter.

“But it is a good thing and a good message to our country that we do not sit here to do things for ourselves.”

In the Senate, a minimum of two-thirds of the entire Senate was required to pass the legislation.

The House of Representatives also rejected the legislation.

While 162 members voted in support of the bill, 163 voted against it.

The bill required at least 240 votes to scale through.

Many Nigerians had kicked against the bill as they say Section 84(5) of the Nigerian constitution which guarantees life pension for all former presidents and vice-presidents, already costs about N7.8 billion annually.

Similarly, some state Houses of Assembly have enacted laws granting life pension for their governors.

A similar bill that seeks immunity for senate presidents, speakers and their deputies, was also rejected. It also sought to provide immunity for judiciary officers.

The bill, which is seeking to confer immunity on the heads of the two chambers and their deputies from prosecution, witnessed a poor number of votes during the voting process.

It is titled, “Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Expand Immunity to the Legislative and Judicial Arms of Government; and for Related Matters.”

While 29 senators voted in support of the bill, 50 opposed it and one senator abstained.

In the lower chamber, while 186 voted in support, 111 voted against and five abstained. The bill needed 240 votes to pass.

Only the president, vice president, governors and their deputy currently enjoy immunity from prosecution.

The lawmakers voted on the 68 amendments proposed by their ad hoc committees on constitution review.

This would be the fifth alteration to the document