The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kwara House of Assembly

  • Kwara Assembly holds valedictory session for late pioneer Speaker

    The Kwara House of Assembly on Thursday held a valedictory session for its pioneer Speaker, Alhaji Shehu Usman, who died on Nov. 26 at the age of 77.

    The News Agency of Nigeria NAN reports that the valedictory session for the departed speaker was also attended by some former speakers and members of the house.

    In his tribute to the deceased, the Speaker, Dr Ali Ahmad, described him as a true democrat who contributed immensely to the upliftment of many less privileged persons in society.

    Read Also:Ahmed mourns pioneer Kwara Assembly Speaker Usman

    Ahmad advised politicians to eschew bitterness and always allow peace and unity reign for more development to be attained and urged politicians to emulate the virtues of the late pioneer speaker.

    The Leader of the house, Hassan Oyeleke, in his remark described the departed speaker as a complete gentleman who did not discriminate against anybody.

    Other members of the house who extolled the virtues of the late speaker described him as a great man.

    The house later observed a minute silence in honour of the pioneer speaker.

    The late speaker, who bagged the title of Ciroma of Lafiagi in Edu Local Government Area of the state, died on Nov. 26 at the age of 77.

  • Kwara Assembly passes N156b revised 2018 budget

    The Kwara House of Assembly on Wednesday passed N156 billion as the revised 2018 budget for the state as against the N190 billion approved by the House in December 2017.

    The downward review of the budget was in response to Gov.  Abdulfatah Ahmed’s request in his message to the house two weeks ago.

    The revised appropriation bill was passed after the house had approved all the clauses in the report of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation.

     

    Read Also: Kwara spends N6.5b on Ilorin water project

     

    The total budget size after the review exercise is now N156, 043,339,799  as against N190, 997,425,571, which represents a 19 per cent decrease.

     

    The Deputy Speaker, Mathew Okedare, who presided over the plenary, directed the Clerk of the house, Hajia Jumai Perogi,  to produce a clean copy of the revised budget for the governor’s  assent

    (NAN)

  • Kwara assembly wades into Air Force, community land dispute

    Kwara assembly wades into Air Force, community land dispute

    The Kwara House of  Assembly on  Thursday urged the state government to pay compensation to Alagbado community in Eiyenkorin, a suburb of llorin, for the 20 hectares of land it sold to the Nigerian Airforce in  1985.

    The House made the plea after considering the report of a  petition submitted to its Committee on Public Petition.

    In the petition, the Alagbado community had alleged encroachment into its land by the Nigerian Airforce.

    But the Chairman of the committee, Muhammed Adebayo, said that the Nigerian Air Force had acquired the land since 1985 and compensation had been paid to the state government.

    The committee said the state government, however,  refused to pay compensation to the land owners following a dispute on the land with another community.

    The House, in its resolution, urged the state Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the Bureau of  Lands and the Office of the Surveyor-General to demarcate the land acquired by the Nigerian Air Force.

    The House also urged Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed to urgently direct the Bureau of Lands to pay the appropriate compensation to the rightful owners without further delay.

    It further called on the state Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to direct the Secretary, State Town Planning and Development Authority to stop issuing building approvals for any land in contention.

    Some lawmakers in their submissions recommended that punitive measures be meted against  town planning  officials  found wanting in the allocation of already acquired land to serve as deterrent to others.

    The Deputy Speaker, Mathew Okedare,  who presided over Thursday’s sitting, commended the committee for its brilliant submissions on the issue.

  • Lawmaker denies disbursement of N1bn agric loan to politicians

    Assemblyman Isiaku Aliyu-Adams, Chairman, Kwara House of Assembly Committee on Agriculture, on Wednesday denied the speculations that the N1billion Agric Loan, which the state secured, had been disbursed to politicians.

    Aliyu-Adams told News Agency of Nigeria NAN) in llorin that the loan was never hijacked by politicians or given to “political farmers’’.

    NAN reports that the Kwara House of Assembly in January 2017 approved the request of Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed to obtain N1 billion loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to boost agriculture in the state.

    NAN also reports that the since the approval of the loan, there has been speculations in many quarters that the loan would be disbursed to “political farmers’’, just like the previous ones.

    Aliyu-Adams said that genuine farmers in the state were free to contact the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Commerce and Cooperatives and obtain application forms for funds from the loan.

    He described the rumour regarding the disbursement of the loan to “political farmers’’ as baseless and a calculated attempt to derail the good intentions of the state government.

    He stressed that agriculture remained the most viable option in the ongoing efforts to diversify the nation’s economy.

  • Kwara assembly calls for resuscitation of sports in schools

    The Kwara House of Assembly on Wednesday called for the resuscitation of sporting activities in all primary and secondary schools in the state.

    The legislators made the call after a deliberation on poor sporting activities in some primary and secondary schools in the 16 local government areas of the state.

    The motion without notice was moved by the House Leader, Mr. Hassan Oyeleke, under “Matters of Urgent Public Importance’’.

    Oyeleke, in his submission, said that educational success should not only be based on the certificates alone, but the overall development of human beings.

    He said that incorporating sports in schools’ curriculum would go a long way in discovering talents.

    The Deputy Speaker, Mr. Mathew Okedare, who presided over Wednesday’s plenary, urged the state Ministry of Education to include sports in schools’ curriculum.

    Also during Wednesday’s plenary, a bill to amend the law setting up Abubakar Sola Saraki University passed first reading.

    Motion for the first reading of the bill was moved by Oyeleke.

    The bill, which was sent to the House by Gov. AbdulFatah Ahmed, sought to add a representative of the state Attorney-General to the Governing Council of the university.

    Okedare referred the bill to the House Committee on Rules and Business to slate it for second reading at the appropriate time.

     

  • Kwara Assembly frowns at illegal erection of fuel stations

    Kwara Assembly frowns at illegal erection of fuel stations

    The Kwara state House of Assembly (KWHA) has frowned against indiscriminate construction of filling stations in residential areas in Ilorin, the state capital.

    The Assembly added that such action poses grave danger to lives and property.

    It then summoned two owners of filling stations in Ilorin metropolis to appear before it over alleged illegal operations.

    The filling Stations were M.M. Ibrolak interbiz at Agbo-oba and Juniwad Petrol Station at Ita-Merin area of the metropolis.

    Also, the lawmakers summoned owners of the Petrol stations under construction along Oko-Erin, Kuntu, Abayawo and Ode Alawonla in Okelele all in the town, to appear before the House’s Ad-Hoc Committee for failure to secure necessary documents before erecting their filing stations.

    The Chairman of the committee, Kamaldeen Fagbemi said this in Ilorin during the Committee’s visit to some filling stations at Okelele, Abayawo, Alagbado, Kongbari and Muritala Mohammed way all in Ilorin Metropolis.

    The lawmaker was accompanied by members of the committee, officers of the state Town Planning and Development Authority, Fire Service, Ministry of Environment and Forestry and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria.

    He said the House of Assembly would not fold its arms and watch the lives and properties of those who elected them into office being threatened by few individuals who were desperately looking for money.
    The lawmaker explained that the State House of Assembly would give fair hearing to all parties concerned before taking a definite position on the matter.

    Mr. Fagbemi directed the affected persons to come along with the approvals of the State Town Planning and Development Authority, Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR), State Fire Service and Environmental Assessment.

    He said defaulters risked closure of the affected filling stations.

    He added that the House would soon conduct public hearing on proliferation of filling stations in residential areas to have stakeholders’ inputs with a view to finding an enduring solution to the problem and called on members of the public to cooperate with the legislature.

    Fagbemi, who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Ethics, Public Petitions, Privileges and Judiciary, assured that the House would address the issue holistically, saying that the House would ensure implementation of Laws setting up a Town Planning Tribunal  to ensure proper trial of culprits.

    The Executive Secretary of the State Town Planning and Development Authority Mr. Oladele Adeoti had told the Ad-Hoc Committee that they had demolished some illegal filling stations under Construction in the past.

    He added that his men were usually beaten up by hoodlums hired by the owners of such illegal filling stations.