Kunle Adelabu
-Presented first edition of newsletter
In its quest to integrate the legislatures in the Southwest States of the country for further development and improvement in its activities, the Southwest Legislative Reform Implementation Committee (SLRIC) has revealed that it is planning a Legislative Conference.
This was part of the revelation made by the body during its first quarterly session after its inauguration for the 2019-2023 Session held at the R & A City Hotel, off Allen Avenue, Ikeja, on Friday, November 29, 2019.
SLRIC, a committee consisting of the six Majority Leaders in the Southwest and an initiative of the Southwest Speakers, has also succeeded in harmonizing the rules and standing orders of all the Houses of Assembly in the Southwest region into one.
At the meeting were the Majority Leaders of the four of the six Southwest Houses of Assembly. They were Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, the Majority Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly and Chairman of the SLRIC, Hon. Olugbenga Aribisongan, the Majority Leader of Ekiti State House of Assembly and the Director of Information and Media, SLRIC, Hon Sherif Yusuf, Majority Leader, Ogun Assembly, Hon Okanrewaju Moruf, Majority Leader, Osun Assembly, Hon Banjo Adedoyin, Majority Leader, Oyo State.
Meanwhile, SLRIC Chairman, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade , while addressing members of the press, stated that one of the agenda of the first quarterly session of the Committee is to plan modalities for hosting Southwest Legislative Conference.
“One of the topics for our business session today, will be, workable modalities on hosting Southwest Legislative Conference that will bring together all legislators in the Southwest to interact, learn and share experiences, as it is being done in other climes, such as. NCSL in America, the CPA and so on.
“To realize this idea, we are already taking steps, subject to the approval of the Speakers Forum Southwest, at registering Conference of Nigeria Southwest Legislators (CONSWEL) with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for the purpose of the Southwest Legislators’ Conference”, he added.
Hon. Agunbiade also revealed that SLRIC has been able to achieve legislative cooperation amongst the Houses of Assembly in Southwest.
“We have succeeded in harmonizing the rules and standing orders of all the Houses of Assembly in the Southwest into one and today, we shall be formally presenting SLRIC newsletter to aggregate and propagate various activities of legislatures in the Southwest.
Speaking on the achievements of the body so far, the four-term lawmaker stated that SLRIC has succeeded in exchanging ideas, sharing experiences and providing technical support for budgetary processes in the six Southwest Legislative Assemblies.
“As we are preparing today to go into the first quarterly session of the committee, it is important to state for the records that within the short period of our inauguration to date, we have undertaken the following activities.:
“Cross learning among Southwest legislators in participatory oversight engagement, which was held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Cross learning and experience sharing on Lagos State approach on Constituency engagement held at Ibadan, Oyo, State.
“Facilitation of technical sections on MTEF for engaging year 2020 budget by Houses of Assembly in the Southwest. And lately, Workshop/Technical session for the members and staff of Southwest State Houses of Assembly committees on public accounts, audit-general for states and for local governments on PAC roles, processes, procedures and audit function held in Ondo State most recently.
While acknowledging the impact of SLRIC technical partner, Partner to Engage, Reform & Learn (PERL), Southwest Region, in helping legislators built its capacities, Hon. Agunbiade also stated that a functional and interactive website to link all the legislators in the Southwest will soon be unveiled.
“With the support of ever dynamic and resourceful technical partners, the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn, we have raised the consciousness of most of the legislators in the southwest towards self-accounting principles and assisted the legislatures to rise to the challenges of passing enabling laws to achieve the long time desires.
“Very soon, our functional and interactive website will be completed and hosted for use in the southwest. With the website we intend to link and engage all the legislators and legislative Houses in the Southwest, and the public shall be able to access the profile of every legislator in the Southwest and the activities of the legislative Houses”, he stated.
The representative of the SLRIC technical partner, PERL, Mrs Ugogho Olabisi Florence, speaking at the meeting, stated that the body ensures that governance processes is run smoothly to guarantee service delivery to the people.
She stated that the body is partnering and providing technical support for SLRIC to ensure that legislative reform is evenly impacted on Houses of Assembly in the Southwest region of the country while working towards extending their technical partnership to other parts of the country.
Olabisi also added that PERL provided support for the legislators in the 8th Assembly that culminated into harmonisation of Houses and standing orders across the region.
“We are still committed to supporting SLRIC to ensure that they are strengthened. We want to make sure that the body can stand on its own. PERL is assuring SLRIC continuous support and partnership to ensure a sustained reforms ” , she assured.
Hon. Olugbenga Aribisongan, the Majority Leader of Ekiti State House of Assembly and the Director of Information and Media, SLRIC, presented the first edition of the newsletter during the briefing with newsmen.
