Ekiti
State House of Assembly has said that there was no truth in the
insinuations making the rounds that members have abandoned their duty
posts in pursuit of private businesses.
Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Mr. Olusegun Adewumi, in an interview with journalists on Sunday in Ado Ekiti said the fact that the legislators do not sit in plenary everyday does not amount to dereliction of duties.
He stated that it was also not true that the 26-member house had become ready tools in the hands of the executive arm by sitting only when the executive wanted them to sit.
According to him, legislative duties are not limited to mere sitting in chambers and passing either bills or motions.
He explained that every member is either a chairman of at least a committee of the house or member of several other committees.
Consequently, he said such dual responsibilities would always take members out on either committee meetings, oversight functions, as well as constituency visits among several other commitments.
He
clarified that contrary to allegation, members of the Assembly who are
professionals or artisans, such as musicians and actors, have also not
gone back to their former businesses at the expense of the job of law
making.
“The Assembly does not operate during weekends or on
24hour basis, so if a member whose previous work was to sing or act film
decides to hold the microphone once a while, do you sum that up to mean
inefficiency or abandoning the assembly?
“People who are comparing us with certain past legislatures must realise that it is not the number of bills or motions a particular assembly passes for narrow political reasons that matters, but the quality of such bills and the immediate relief they bring to the people, and that is what we stand for”, he said.
The Deputy Speaker, who attributed all recent misgivings about the Assembly to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) said the target of the party was to set current crop of lawmakers against the governor and the electorates.
He enjoined all Ekiti people, irrespective of their political affiliation to support the present government and the three arms in their plans to making life worth living for them.
Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Mr. Olusegun Adewumi, in an interview with journalists on Sunday in Ado Ekiti said the fact that the legislators do not sit in plenary everyday does not amount to dereliction of duties.
He stated that it was also not true that the 26-member house had become ready tools in the hands of the executive arm by sitting only when the executive wanted them to sit.
According to him, legislative duties are not limited to mere sitting in chambers and passing either bills or motions.
He explained that every member is either a chairman of at least a committee of the house or member of several other committees.
Consequently, he said such dual responsibilities would always take members out on either committee meetings, oversight functions, as well as constituency visits among several other commitments.
“People who are comparing us with certain past legislatures must realise that it is not the number of bills or motions a particular assembly passes for narrow political reasons that matters, but the quality of such bills and the immediate relief they bring to the people, and that is what we stand for”, he said.
The Deputy Speaker, who attributed all recent misgivings about the Assembly to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) said the target of the party was to set current crop of lawmakers against the governor and the electorates.
He enjoined all Ekiti people, irrespective of their political affiliation to support the present government and the three arms in their plans to making life worth living for them.
