IKOLE (EKITI) – Vanguard for Better Living, an NGO, has urged the nation’s lawmakers, especially at the state level to resist being used as rubber stamp legislature by their executive.
The organisation’s Coordinator, Mr Samson Olaide, made call on Sunday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ikole, Ekiti.
He spoke against the backdrop of the new set of legislators who will take over across the states of the federation after May 29.
Olaide said the call became necessary following the dominance of state Houses of Assembly by certain political parties as peculiar to each state.
“Do you expect a state House of Assembly with 26 members from one political party to kick against a request sent to it by the governor from the same party?
He noted that some state legislatures could hardly follow due process in dealing with issues as the law stipulated because of interference from the executive.
“Most of the state legislatures are just rubber stamp in the hands of their governors and any lawmaker trying to raise an objection is marked as a rebel.
“The development has plunged many states into huge debts which should ordinarily not have been approved by the Assembly.
“The results of the House of Assembly polls from states across the country shows that things will get worse if the lawmakers fail to realise their statutory duty,’’ he said.
Olaide urged the legislators to be principled in their job irrespective of the cordial relation with their governors.
“They should resolve to always follow due process, make laws that will be beneficial to the state and perform their oversight functions effectively rather than being used as a rubber stamp legislature,’’ he added.
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He also urged them to play vital roles in poverty reduction in their constituencies through viable economic empowerment programmes and desist from dishing out paltry sums of money to needy individuals. (NAN)
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