Abuja – A member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan (APC-Duguri/Gwana constituency), on Thursday said that Education and Healthcare were a top priority of the Assembly.
Hassan, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said that the assembly had declared a state of emergency on education in the state.
Hassan is the Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Deputy Chairman, Committee on Budget and Appropriation.
“We have declared a state of emergency on the issue of education and healthcare.
“These two issues, health and education are our top priorities and our second priorities are agriculture and solid minerals,“he said.
He said that committees were set up by the assembly to inspect the level of dilapidation of the education and the healthcare sectors in the state.
“We have set up committees that went round the whole state to see the level of dilapidation of schools and healthcare which has been captured in the 2016 budget.
“We are glad to see the Executive Governor giving 16 per cent of the budget to healthcare which is even above the 15 per cent 2014 Abuja declaration.
“Bauchi is the only state that actually gave higher percentage of its budget to education,“he said.
He said that the assembly was able to achieve the feat because of the non interference by the executive arm in the legislative business of the house.
Hassan said that autonomy for Local Government Councils would address the infrastructure deficit at the third tier of government.
“ Absolutely, I agree with those agitating for autonomy for Local Governments because it would impact directly on the people,`he said.
The lawmaker said that even without autonomy, they needed to generate their own revenue in order not to depend solely on the monthly grant from the Federal government.
Hassan said that the assembly would rally other state assemblies to ensure that they got autonomy during the next constitution amendment by the National Assembly.
He said that the present APC-led Federal Government was willing to give state assemblies autonomy.
The lawmaker said that state houses of assemblie were not rubber stamp of the state governors as widely believed.
Hassan said since the inception of the eighth assembly in the state, it had worked without any interference from the executive.
He urged the people of the state to exercise patience with the state government and also support the current verification of civil servants in the state.
He said the exercise was aimed at ascertaining genuine workers in the state to enable government plan well for the people.
“I want to use this opportunity to solicit the support of the good people of Bauchi State to give us a bit of time to finish with the verification to detect genuine workers,“he said.
He said that the assembly would work hand-in-hand with the executive to provide the needed change and dividends of democracy in the state. (NAN)