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Tag: Mathew Okedare

  • 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 bans public schools from collecting illegal fees

    The Kwara State House of Assembly on  Wednesday banned public primary and secondary schools in the state from collecting unauthorized fees from pupils and students.

    The house gave the directive after considering a report of the House Committee on Education and Human Capital Development on alleged collection of illegal fees.

    The alleged fees, the assembly said were being collected by headmasters and principals in public primary and secondary schools in the state.

    Reading the resolution of the house after rising from the committee, the Deputy Speaker, Chief Mathew Okedare, who presided over the plenary mandated the authorities of each school to refund the money collected.

    The lawmakers directed headmasters and principals who collected above approved fees from students to refund the money before the end of the first term.

    It directed the State Teaching Service Commission and the State Universal Basic Education Board to sanction the affected headmasters and principals and to communicate the sanction to the house immediately.

    The house called on the teaching service commission and other stakeholders in the Education Sector to be alive to their responsibility at all times, especially monitoring and supervision of public schools.

    The state Commissioner for Education, Hajia Bilikis Oniyangi, had suspended some principals over alleged collection of illegal fees from students.

    NAN

  • Kwara Assembly passes 2017 revised Appropriation Bill of N166bn

    Kwara Assembly passes 2017 revised Appropriation Bill of N166bn

    The Kwara House of Assembly on Tuesday passed a revised 2017 Appropriation Bill of N166.1 billion.

    The passage of the bill was in response to the request of Gov. AbdulFatah Ahmed in his message to the House early in October.

    The revised state Appropriation Bill was passed after the House had approved all the classes on the bill during the committee of whole, which lasted less than one hour.

    According to the bill, the revised capital expenditure expenditure is now N80.9 billion, while the recurrent expenditure is N77.6 billion.

    After the Clerk of the House, Alhaji Mohammed Katsina had read the bill for the third time, the Deputy Speaker, Mr Mathew Okedare, who presided over the plenary, directed him to produce a clean copy of the bill for the governor’s assent.

     The House had earlier approved over N160 billion as 2017 Kwara budget.

    In another development, the house called on the state’s Commissioner of Police, Lawan Ado, to critically look into complains about his officers and men over allegations of harassment.

    The house made the call after considering a matter of urgent public importance raised by Masud Bakare (APC, Omupo constituency).

    Bakare had alleged sexual harassment of a female along pipeline road in Ilorin by some Special Anti Robbery Squad ( SARS ) Officers under the command.

    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.

  • 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.