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Tag: State Houses of Assembly

  • Speakers of State Houses of Assembly assure Nigerians of commitment to good governance

    Speakers of State Houses of Assembly assure Nigerians of commitment to good governance

    Speakers of State Houses of Assembly Nigeria have reiterated their commitment to ensuring good governance at the grassroots level across the country.

    The Chairman of Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin in his keynote address at a 1-Day Reflection Session for Speakers and Clerks of State Houses of Assembly assured Nigerians of the commitment of the state legislators to good governance.

    The session was organised by the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria with support from Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), a UK, Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) programme.

    The session focused on the ongoing reforms and emerging governance issues at thestates with the theme: ‘Legislative Reforms at the State Level: The Journey so far.’

    Ogundoyin said contributions of Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) towards ensuring good governance at the subnational level cannot be qualified. “We appreciate the efforts of PERL. We are thankful for the efforts of PERL for focusing on the subnational government, especially, the legislative arm.”

    The Team Leader of PERL, Engage Citizens, Dr. John Mutu, while highlighting  the objective of the reflection session, said  the session was aimed at reflecting on previous engagements, celebrate successes, and lessons learnt to inform future plans as well as provide an opportunity for participants to reflect on emerging governance issues across the country.

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    The FCDO Senior Governance Adviser, Chris Okeke charged state legislators to work together with the executive arm in their various states to ensure that development is sustainable in their respective states.

    Okeke said, “With some of the challenges you have seen around the country, your roles as state legislators have become more important, and that underscores the reason why FCDO through our programme, PERL maintained a strong relationship and partnership with you to ensure that development across Nigeria is sustainable.”

    The Speaker of Sokoto State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Tukur Bala lauded PERL for its efforts so far in ensuring good governance and service delivery to the people.

    Bala said “We deliberated extensively on way forward on how to make local government and state legislature autonomy work and also reflected on the efforts of our partner, PERL. We are very sure and confident that this will bring the dividends of democracy to our people”.

  • 2019: INEC retrieves sensitive materials from LGs to CBN in Lagos

    The National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lagos State, on Sunday said it had retrieved all sensitive materials for the rescheduled Presidential and National Assembly elections earlier distributed to the 20 Local Government Areas of the state.

    INEC Spokesman in Lagos State, Mr Femi Akinbiyi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, that all sensitive materials had been retrieved and kept in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under security watch.

    He said that the sensitive materials, which comprised ballot papers and result sheets, had been distributed at the three senatorial districts before they were later moved to the 20 LGAs.

    INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had attributed the postponement of the elections to logistic and operational problems.

    Akinbiyi said that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police had monitored the exercise in some local governments.

    “The instruction from the INEC headquarters was that all sensitive materials should be moved back to the CBN and the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State was in Ikeja today to supervise such movement.

    “The movement across the state was done under tight security,” he said.According to him, all card readers earlier deployed to each local government area have been returned to the INEC office in Yaba for reconfiguration.

    The INEC Public Relations Officer added that all ad hoc staff had been paid their training allowances for the postponed elections.

    The Governorship, State Houses of Assembly, and FCT Area Council elections were also shifted from March 2 to March 9.The INEC state chairman said that the postponement would afford the electoral body the opportunity to address the identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of Nigeria’s election. (NAN)

  • Ambode urges state govts to imbibe legislature harmony 

    Gov.  Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Friday attributed the massive development going on in the state to the harmonious relationship between the state executive and legislature.
    Ambode said this when he received the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria at the Lagos House, Alausa,  Ikeja.
    The News Agency  of Nigeria  (NAN)  reports that Lagos is hosting the Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly between Aug. 3 and Aug. 5.
    Ambode urged the speakers to take the lessons from Lagos to their various states and work harmoniously with the executive arms, for the good of the people.
    ”This visit is a very significant one for Lagos State.  The last time we hosted speakers like this was during the administration of Sen. Bola Tinubu.
    ”It is very significant for us to have been able to bring together speakers from the 36 states inspite  of the various movements in our polity. It means there is still hope  in Nigeria.
    ”I want to implore other state governments to emulate Lagos State by ensuring harmonious relationship  between  the executive and the legislature.
    ”Such relationship helps us perform better by  carrying  out our constitutional  roles as elected officers and reaching out to the yearnings of the electorates,” Ambode said.
    Earlier, Mr Isamaila Kamba, speaker of Kebbi  State House of Assembly  and Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria,  thanked the governor for the grand reception.
    Isamaila said that the Conference  would, among other things, deliberate on how  to implement  the recently assented bill granting financial autonomy to state legislative and judicial arms of government.
    He urged Gov. Ambode to liaise with other state governments on their behalf,  to give them a soft landing in the implementation  of the law.
    Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari, on June 8, assented to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 Alteration Act (4th Alteration Act 4, 9, 16, and 21) which grants financial autonomy to the State Houses of Assembly and the Judiciary.
    Isamaila also commended the governor for the huge investment on security  and infrastructure development in the state.
    ”Gov. Ambode, we want you to know  that your name has been written in gold in the history of governance  in Nigeria, ” he said.
    In his remarks,  Mr Mudashiru  Obasa,  the host speaker, said the conference would discuss latest developments in the country, to chart the way forward for the benefit  of Nigerians.
    Obasa  thanked Gov. Ambode for providing the necessary support needed for the success of the conference.

  • We won’t beg governors for money again – Yobe Speaker

    Speaker, Yobe State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Adamu Dala Dogo has said that the signing into law of the financial autonomy of the State Houses of Assembly in the country will strengthen democratic operations as better service delivery to the common people.

    According Mr. Dogo, member of the House of Assembly will no longer carry files to executive governors looking for approvals as their moneys will be directly wired to them.

    Hon. Dala Dogo disclosed this  Thursday in Damaturu at the lunching of the simplified budget of Yobe State Government for citizens  into English and House versions supported by Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn, a UK,  DfID sponsored program.

    “The signing into law by the president the financial autonomy of the legislature is one of the greatest things that has happened to our democracy. This financial autonomy will strengthen our democracy and help deliver the dividends of democracy better to the common man.

    “Before, our budgets were been sliced by the governors and they keep telling you that there is no money. Take for instance, if you have a budget of over one billion naira, you can write to the governor that you need money for a particular project and he will tell you that there is no money.

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    “Sometimes, you may request for N20 million and he may give you less than that.  Sometimes he keeps your file with the excuse that there is no money. This has affected us seriously in the past but with this autonomy, it’s our responsibility to decide on how to spend our money from our budget. We can carry out our projects without any hindrances from the executives as it is now,” Hon. Dala Dogo said.

    He however noted that the financial autonomy should not be mistaken for putting the governors and the legislature on each other throat stressing that, the two arms needs a harmonious relationship for the progress and the development of the state.

    “No, if there is cooperation and understanding, the governor is still the leader of the party in the state. He has the power to convince the members to give do what he wants. In the event that you refuse to give him what he wants, time will come that the legislature too  will also need his assistance. There has to be that cooperation between the governor and the house to work for the betterment of the people of the state,” Dala Dogo explained.

    Earlier at the event, the North East Regional Team Leader, PERL-ECP, Mrs Elizabeth Sara expressed her happiness over the progress made so far in bringing the knowledge of the budget to the common man to understand.

    According to her, the measure will go a long way in helping citizens understand what is in the budget for them and their levels of involvement through implementation, tracking and monitoring.

    She praised the Yobe State Government and the State House of Assembly for accepting the reforms, while calling on Borno, Taraba and Adamawa to join the train.

    Representatives of Civil Society Organizations, media, traditional rulers, development partners and other stakeholders graced the occasion.

     

  • Reps push for financial autonomy for NASS, Judiciary, INEC

    Reps push for financial autonomy for NASS, Judiciary, INEC

    …To give State control over mineral resources

    The House of Representatives is pushing for financial autonomy for the National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly, Federal and State Judiciary as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and it’s State version.

    The lawmakers have also waded into the resource control controversy by commencing the process of granting States the control of mineral resources in their domain.

    This followed the second reading of a bill sponsored by Aminu Shagari (APC, Sokoto) who said the alteration of the 1999 constitution would place the Federal and State legiaalture, the judiciary and INEC on first line charge.

    According to him, the two arms of government and INEC would no longer have to rely on the Executive for their finances if they truly want to carry out their statutory responsibilities independently.

    The bill is seeking to alter Section 81 of the Constitution by adding two new sub-sections whereby “The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives,  the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission shall cause and laid before each House of National Assembly, at any time in each  financial year, estimates of the revenues and expenditures of the National Assembly, the judiciary and the Independent National Electoral Commission respectively”.

    The implication is that the heads of expenditures, proposed for the benefit of the National Assembly, the judiciary and INEC would henceforth be charged upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

    Consequently, their money bills would be known as Consolidated Charge Fund (National Assembly) bill, Consolidated Charge Fund (Judiciary) bill and Consolidated Charge Fund (INEC) bill.

    The bill is also seeking to delete  Sub-section 3 of the constitution and  replace it  with a clause whereby any amount standing to the credit of the National Assembly, ,Judiciary and INEC  shall be paid and disbursed  directly to the Clerk of the National Assembly,  National Judicial Council and Chairman INEC respectively for disbursement and management.

    Alteration of Section 121 was meant to effect same changes at State level.

    “The essence of the alteration is to allow the legislature, the judiciary and the Electoral Commission at Federal and State prepare their estimates and present it before the Assembly.

    “This will allow them to have their budgetary allocations disbursed directly to them.

    “The intent of this is to truly make them independent in carrying out their statutory responsibilities and eliminate chances of being compromised.

    “It goes without saying that they cannot be independent if they go cap in hand to the Executive every time for thier allocations,” Shagari said.

    Similarly, the Minority Leader Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta) in his bill for an Act to alter the 1999 constitution to vest the control of the revenues derived from minerals, mineral oils and natural gas, under or upon any land in the State of the Federation, argued that the alteration was to relief the Exclusive List of some unnecessary burden while freeing up States to unlock their potentials.

    He also said that the diversification of the economy drive of the government would become meaningful as States would henceforth have the benefit of concentrating on their individual strengths in production.

    He said: “Nigeria is blessed with natural resources and there is no State that does not have natural resources they can depend on but monthly allocations from the Federation Account has made everyone lazy.

    “If the overloaded Exclusive list is freed up and the Federal government allowed to concentrate on security and the most critical issues, then the States would have the opportunity of specialising in the production of natural resources at their disposal.

    “If States would have to give a percentage of the earnings from their resources, every State would grow, if greater opportunity is provided for the  States to manage their resources, the economy would grow. This is the foundation for diversification”.

    Emmanuel Oker-Jev, said the bill must be supported because it was aiming to accomplish what the 2014 National Conference failed to do on resource control.

    The two bills scaled second reading after being put to voice vote by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara who referred them to the special ad hoc Committee on the review of the 1999 constitution.