By Amen Gajira
Minna – The Niger State House of Assembly on Tuesday said it has passed a total of 20 bills, since its inauguration in 2015.
The speaker, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa, made this known on the floor of the house in an address to welcome members back from the Sallah break.
Marafa stated that 15 of the bills had already been assented to by the state governor.
“My colleagues, let me for the sake of record, inform you that we have so far passed 20 bills with 15 already assented to by the governor, while five are still pending.
“I think this is a novel achievement that will give room for greater improvement in the remaining months to come,” he added.
Marafa tasked his colleagues on the need to sponsor more bills and scale up oversight functions to ensure that the electorate get the dividends of democracy.
“Oversight functions must not be a misconstrued; it is a legislative tool that could correct wrongs in the system.
“We have a mandate as elected representatives to enhance the economic growth of our state and this can only be achieved through effective oversight,” he added
The Speaker commended President Muhammadu Buhari for assenting to the bill granting autonomy to the state legislature.
He pledged the house resolve to make staff welfare a top priority, adding that approval had been granted for the implementation of Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure (CONLESS) for the workers at the assembly.
“The governor has agreed to implement the CONLESS starting with 50 percent for all legislative staff of the assembly.
“The leadership shall continue to press for full implementation and hopefully, in no distant future, we will get it fully implemented,” he said
(NAN)
