By Lanre Oloyede
Speakers of thirty-six State Houses of Assembly of Nigeria Wednesday gathered in Abuja to brainstorm on modalities for implementation of the autonomy of the various state assemblies.
This took place at a one-day reflection session put together by Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn, PERL, and Engaged Citizens Pillar, ECP, in partnership with Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria.
The Session was attended by Speakers and Clerks from the 36 State Houses of Assembly in the country.
Delivering his keynote address, Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly and Chairman Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin, noted that the reflection session was put together to evaluate and review, assess and analyse as well as enhance and foster more collaboration among members and stakeholders for sustained positive impacts and results.
Rt. Hon. Ogundoyin maintained that through the joint efforts of the Conference of Speakers and the development partners, they have successfully advocated for and implemented several key reforms in the state assemblies.
He mentioned some of the key reforms to include Passage of Funds Management Bills/Laws in several states which have ensured transparent and accountable management of public funds, reducing corruption and misappropriation, and state Legislative Service Commissions which provided independent and professional support to State Legislatures, enhancing their capacity to conduct effective oversight and representation, among others.
According to him, these reforms have significantly improved the capacity and effectiveness of State Legislatures across the country, ensuring seamless legislative processes and enabling State Assemblies to better serve the needs of their constituents and by extension the people.
Hon. Ogundoyin however, noted that the work is far from over, stating that going forward, it is important to continue to prioritize reforms that promote transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement
He added that it is important to also address emerging challenges and opportunities, such as the impact of technology on the legislative process.
In this regard, the Chairman proposed that the Conference should consider the following areas for further reforms : Strengthening Legislative Oversights, Enhancing Citizen Engagement and participation and Promoting Legislative Research and Analysis.
In his goodwill message, Mr. Busari Sarafadeen, the Director-General Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures acknowledged and appreciated the great work by the PERL in Nigeria, noting that many legislative reforms at the state level have been made possible courtesy of PERL’s passionate efforts directed at entrenching democracy in Nigeria.
Mr Sarafadeen stated that prominent among these achievements is the granting of financial autonomy to the state legislatures through the 4th and 5th alteration exercises of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
While regretting the fact that PERL Proframme is closing in Nigeria, the DG however, stated that he trusted that with the landmark achievements recorded by PERL through its engagements with relevant bodies in Nigeria such as Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria and Forum of Clerks of State Legislatures, a successor program is imperative to build on the successes recorded in the country at large and to sustain better service delivery at the sub-national level in particular.
In his remark, Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Oludaisi Olusegun Elemide, represented by the Majority leader of the house, Hon. Sheriff Yusuf, also described as unfortunate the fact that PERL which has been responsible for the capacity building of State legislators is winding down it’s operation in Nigeria.
Hon. Yusuf maintained that PERL has been very helpful to state lawmakers since the inception of current democratic setting in 1999 up till today.
“They’ve been doing one capacity building or the other. I have attended many of their capacity building programs. One of their achievements is the local government autonomy. They have continued to train and develop capacity of our legislators. And you know that the legislature is key in a democracy. Without the legislature, there’s no democracy,” the Ogun Majority leader remarked.
The lawmaker went further to decry the practice of changing the lawmakers every four years, which he described as not helpful to development of democracy in the country.
“It is unfortunate that in this part of the world, we keep changing our lawmakers every four years which means we have to keep training and training the new entrants. We should not be using the legislative position to compensate people rather we should resolve to retain our lawmakers for as long as possible by re-electing them in order to strengthen our democracy.
“In developed democracy like the US and UK, we have some of the lawmakers who have spent more than 30 years in the parliament. This makes their democracy to be stronger,” he averred.
Hon. Yusuf stressed though Ogun State is yet to attain full autonomy, it is however work in progress, while boasting that the State is way ahead of many of other states in terms of autonomy attainment.
“This autonomy we are talking about is not a question of whether the governor likes it or not, it is a constitutional issue. The national assembly has passed it, two-third of the state assembly has passed it, and has been signed into law, so, it is now a constitutional matter,” the Ogun Majority leader remarked.
