The Senate has sought the powers to compel the president to appear before the National Assembly for the state of the nation address.

This followed the second reading of "a Bill for an Act to Prescribe an Annual State of the Nation Address and Other Matters Concerned Thereto," considered on Tuesday. The bill was sponsored by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.

The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs for further legislative action within two weeks.

Leading the debate earlier, Ekweremadu said the bill, which he had sponsored the bill in the 6th Senate, was passed by the House of Representatives was one of the numerous bills that could not receive presidential assent.

"It is in that spirit that this Bill is being reintroduced in pursuit of what has become a democratic norm, especially the principles of accountability and transparency which are the heartbeats of democracy," he said.