WHAT IS A MOTION?
A Motion is a proposal made to elicit a decision of the House. It is a proposal made by a member or a group of members to the House to do something, order something to be done or express an opinion about some matters.
TYPES OF MOTION
Motions are divided into 5 main classes:
1) Main Motion
This is a motion that brings business before the assembly.
Main motions are made while no other motion is pending.
Any of the subsidiary, incidental and privileged motions may be made while the main motion is pending, and in many cases, if passed, will affect the assembly’s consideration of the main motion.
2) Subsidiary Motion:
This is a type of motion by which a deliberative assembly deals directly with the main motion before (or instead of voting on the main motion itself).
Each subsidiary motion ranks higher than the main motion and lower than the privileged motions, and also yields to applicable incidental motions.
Some of the subsidiary motions may also be applied to certain other subsidiary motions, incidental motions and privileged motions.
3) Privileged Motion:
This is a motion that is granted precedence over the ordinary business because it concerns matters of great importance or urgency.
Such motions are not debatable, although, in case of questions of privilege, the chair may feel the need to elicit relevant facts from members.
4) Incidental Motion:
This is a motion that relates in various ways to the main motion and other parliamentary motions.
Most incidental motions are undebatable. It takes precedence over any pending question out of which they arise.
Also Read: Parliamentary Terms In Nigeria’s National Assembly
5) Motions that bring a matter again before the House.
This is a type of Motion that brings a question again before the assembly.
They are used to consider again a question that was previously disposed of.
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