Kogi assembly passes six bills in third year

THE Kogi State House of Assembly said a total of six bills were passed into law in its third legislative year, while 16 other bills initiated during the year was still being attended to.

Apart from this, the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, also presented six new bills before the house for consideration and passage.

The speaker of the house, Matthew Kolawole, who said this at a special session to mark the end of the third legislative year of the assembly, said 22 bills were initiated during the period.

Two of the bills, which were the Kogi state bill for a law to regulate water abuse and the Kogi state traffic/vehicle inspection bill for the regulations of traffic in the state were passed during the special session attended by the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Friday.

The bill on water sought to regulate usage of water and prevent abuse, while the traffic and vehicle inspection bill was to regulate road usage and prevent violation of road and traffic signs.

The urgency with which the bills were passed was said to have followed complaints from the governor that the state government was spending an N100 million monthly on the reticulation and maintenance of greater Lokoja waterworks.

Kolawole said, “In all, 22 bills were initiated and six were attended to while (16 are at the committee level. Among these 22 bills,12 were initiated by the executive, while 10 came as private members bills, six of Bills have been passed into Law and assented to by the executive governor.

“The House during this period adopted several Resolutions emanating from substantive motions tabled on the floor of the House and partly from Observations and Matters of Urgent Public interest brought by honourable members. Some of these resolutions were derived from communication with other arms of the government”

The speaker, however, appealed to the governor to sign the Kogi state house of assembly commission bill which had already been by the house into law

Kolawole said, “The bill, just like the civil and judicial service commissions, is to give to the legislative arm of government an established body that will ensure services in aid of the honourable members and in the execution of their constitutional functions in line with the provision of section 93 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)”.

The governor, who lauded the lawmakers for the cooperation that his government had enjoyed from them, however, called for speedy passage of the new bills and those before them to further aid development in the state.

ALSO READ: 2018 budget: Gov Bello presents N147.8bn to Kogi Assembly

Bello said, “I have the pleasure to lay 6 new bills before this house today. I have no doubt that they will receive the same prompt attention which is the hallmark of this august Assembly. As you will see, these bills touch on key aspects of our society and economy making their quick passage invaluable for enhanced service delivery to the people by Government.

“I look forward to signing them into law soon. Similarly, I wish to appeal to Honourable Members to speed up the passage of some critical bills still pending before this house, especially those touching on health care which is intended to empower us to act in providing certain sustainable health solutions for the people.

“The Attorney-General and his team are 100 per cent at your disposal to resolve any issues and to avoid delays.

We are fully aware of the urgent need to update Members’ constituency and other allowances and I assure you that we are even now working on that. It is safe to say that soon, very soon indeed, we should be able to regularise your financial positions”.