Indications emerged, yesterday, in Minna that the Speakers of the 36 Houses of Assembly were intent on being financially autonomous. Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly Barrister Adamu Usman dropped this hint when he received members of Alliance For Credible Elections (ACE-Nigeria), led by its head of programmes, Sa’adatu Bowsan in his office.
He stressed that the Speakers were determined to actualize this through the ongoing constitutional amendment.
Adamu disclosed that the autonomy of the various legislative houses in the 36 states would deepen democracy and enhance good governance at the state level.
He said, ‘’The fact is, all the 36 State Assemblies are hungry for autonomy. As soon as the National Assembly transmits all the areas of the constitution to be reviewed, I want to assure you that we shall support the autonomy for the state legislative arm. In fact Niger State supported it during the constitutional review move by the 6th National Assembly. It was one state that opted out the last time. But now we are all for it,’’.
He pointed out that, ‘’This is one of the many areas of the constitution review that the Conference of Speakers of States House of Assembly strongly believe should be looked into and ensure that it is enshrined in the constitution”.
Meanwhile the Speaker said, political parties and politicians should allow the choice of the people to prevail in 2015 general election to make the democratic process credible and generally acceptable.
In her comments, the leader of the delegation, Sa’adatu Bowsan said that the organisation was committed to the realisation of a stable democratic practice based on popular choice for a prosperous nation.
‘‘We are here to seek your support for the electoral reform and constitutional review. It is a fact that all these reviews and reforms cannot see the light of the day, because National Assembly will still have to transmit its decision to the states for approval by two-thirds majority,’’ Saudatu declared.
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