The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Adeoye Aribasoye, has warned commissioner-nominees against treating the Legislature with disrespect after they might have been cleared and confirmed for their positions.
Aribasoye warned that henceforth the Assembly will not take it lightly any commissioner who fails to make available the report of his ministry’s activities on how public funds appropriated are expended before the next Budget.
The Speaker who handed down the warning on Monday at the commencement of the screening of the commissioner-nominees said the Assembly is empowered by the Constitution and its standing order to perform oversight functions and ensure that returns on how public funds are expended are rendered as and when due.
Three commissioner-nominees; Dr. Kofoworola Aderiye, Oyeniyi Adebayo (both from Ido/Osi Local Government), and Oluwaseun Fakuade (from Oye Local Government) appeared before the state legislators for screening after being nominated by Governor Biodun Oyebanji.
The governor had last week sent names of twenty-one nominees to the house for confirmation as commissioners.
The speaker said the exercise was conducted pursuant to the provisions of Section 192(1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to pave the way for the smooth running of the government and implementation of policies and programmes that will have an impact on the lives of the citizens of the state.
The three nominees were grilled by the Assembly members who asked them questions ranging from their personality, educational background, pedigree, competence, past experiences in public and private sectors where they had been privileged to serve and values they will add to governance when eventually confirmed.
As part of measures to ensure a stricter screening procedure, the nominees were compelled to produce tax clearance certificates issued and verified by the Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service in line with Section 38 of the Board of Internal Revenue Law.
The nominees’ tax clearance certificates were personally confirmed and authenticated by the speaker and the Majority Leader, Tolu Ige before the nominees addressed the Assembly and respond to questions posed to them by the legislators.
The speaker further added that each of the nominees screened by the Assembly must declare their assets and produce completed Asset Declaration Forms from the Code of Conduct Bureau before they are confirmed at a later date.
Laying emphasis on the need for commissioners and other officers of the government to honour invitations from the Assembly on issues that require legislative scrutiny, the Speaker warned that the legislature will use the instrumentality of the law to compel the appearance of any officer invited.
He said: “This House will not take it lightly with any Commissioner that that fails to honour invitations to appear before it on issues of governance and areas the House has oversight on.
“We will not tolerate any failure to make available a report of your activities which must be available before the next Budget. You must bring it to explain what you have done with the funds (appropriated by the legislature). The returns must be rendered as and when due.
“When you are summoned, you must appear before the House. I want to say that this House of Assembly will take its rightful position and do what is assigned to it as an arm of government. We will use the instrumentality of the law because we are empowered by the Constitution, we are also empowered by the Standing Order to do the needful.
“I am going to repeat this to other commissioner-nominees that will still appear before us in case this House finds you worthy of our confirmation, that the House of Assembly which is saddled with the responsibility of oversight (functions) on the Executive will take its rightful position to do what has been assigned to it as an arm of government.
“We are screening you today and we will confirm if we find you worthy. Please let all commissioners respect this House.”
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