Lawmakers in the Ogun State House of Assembly voted concurrently on the 44 bills sent by the National Assembly to the state legislature.
They have, however, approved the Bill providing financial independence for the State Houses of Assembly, State Judiciary, Local Government, and others, as well as authorizing the renaming of the Egbado North and South Local Government Areas.
The vote came after the adoption of the report of the Committee of the Whole House, chaired by the Speaker, Olakunle Oluomo, as presented by his Deputy, Akeem Balogun, who also moved the motion for its adoption, which was seconded by the Majority Leader, Yusuf Sheriff, and supported by other lawmakers.
According to the report, “having carefully listened to the in-depth review of the bills, the stakeholders present at the forum took turns to give their reasons for urging the House to favor all the proposed alterations vide the bills as presented.” They believe that the democratic principles enshrined in our constitution will be strengthened and deepened.”
All stakeholders at the forum unanimously agreed that all 44 proposed (Bills) alterations considered should be given accelerated concurrence by the House and transmitted to the National Assembly for onward transmission to Mr. President for his assent, so that the efforts and financial implications put into the 5th Alterations by various stakeholders involved in the exercise will not be wasted and that the principle of separation of powers among the three tiered institutions is maintained.
The legislative process at the plenary saw the Committee of the Whole House consider and adopt the alteration bills, after which the lawmakers engaged in physical voting for each of the bills, which was counted by the Clerk and Head of legislative service.
Other bills approved by the lawmakers included one to abolish the State Joint Local Government Account and establish a Special account into which all allocations due to Local Government Councils from the Federation Account and the State government shall be paid; and for related purposes.
This is in addition to a bill to establish Local Government as a tier of government and guarantee its democratic existence and tenure; a bill to compel persons to obey or comply with Legislative Summons; and a bill to establish a State Security Council.
The Assembly also passed a bill to separate the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federal Government from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, as well as another to separate the Offices of the Attorney-General of the Federation and of the State from the Offices of the Minister of Justice or Commissioners for Justice of a State, in order to make the Attorneys-General independent and insulated from partisanship.
In addition, lawmakers backed the passage of a bill that would allow for independent candidacy in Presidential, Governorship, National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly, and Local Government Council elections.