By Yemi Adeleye
Apparently, deriving from Lagos State’s motto — “Centre of Excellence’’ — the Lagos State House of Assembly embraced a slogan, “A House of Assembly Above the Common Standard of Excellence’’.
This watchword among the legislators is to make a point, that the Assembly is distinct and legislates for a distinct state, a mega city and centre of excellence.
However, how distinct the Assembly is, depends on its efficiency in discharging its constitutional responsibilities in the populous state.
Indeed, the 8th Assembly, inaugurated on June 8, 2015, under the leadership of Speaker Mudashiru Obasa, has been full of activities.
In the first six months of its inauguration, from June 2015 to December 2015, the House passed 45 resolutions.
In 2016, the 40-member House, representing about 21 million Lagos residents across the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), made 65 resolutions and passed eight bills into law. Some of the bills have been assented to by Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode.
It equally waded into some crises and attended to some petitions by various groups.
The House, in the first quarter of 2016, passed 24 resolutions, prominent among them is the compulsory teaching and learning of Yoruba Language in both private and public primary and secondary schools. This resolution was passed on Feb. 4.
It passed no fewer than 19 resolutions in the second quarter, including a decision on April 5 to call on the Federal Government to end crippling fuel scarcity.
In the same quarter, the Assembly called on the Federal Government to dialogue with the Niger Delta Avengers to end restiveness in the region. It also passed a resolution for the dissolution of local government council caretaker committees in the 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs.
The lawmakers passed 11 resolutions in each of the third and fourth quarters, prominent among are to call on Ambode to beef up security in the state’s coastal areas and to investigate poorly executed road projects.
Among the bills passed into law are a bill to establish a neighbourhood safety agency and a bill to prohibit forceful entry and illegal occupation of landed property in the state.
Some other bills passed into law by the Assembly in 2016 are the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (Amendment) Law, 2016; Local Government Election Tribunal (Amendment) Law, 2016; and Local Government Administration (Amendment) Law, 2016.
The others are the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund Law, 2015; Appropriation Law, 2016; Lagos State Properties Protection Law, 2016 and Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Law, 2016.
The Speaker of the House, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, says the neighborhood safety agency is aimed at promoting community policing through vigilante corps.
He says it is not to provoke rivalry with other security agencies but to complement their efforts in strengthening security in Lagos State.
On the Properties Protection Law, Obasa says the enactment is a major step toward stemming the activities of land grabbers, popularly known as “Omo Oniles’’ or “Ajagungbales’’.
The speaker also believes that the Local Government Administration (Amendment) Law will deepen democracy at the grassroots by elongating the tenure of elected local council officers from three to four years.
The House has continued to conduct Thursday plenary sessions in Yoruba Language.
Notable among the achievements of the Assembly in 2016 in promoting speaking of Yoruba Language is its sponsorship of a summit in July to push it further.
The summit attracted first class monarchs such as the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi and the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu. Scholars and artistes were also part of the meeting.
The 8th Assembly also organised stakeholders’ meetings simultaneously in all the 40 state constituencies to feel the pulse of the people and bring governance closer to them.
The Assembly, on Jan. 3, opened 2017 plenary with the passage of the state’s N813 billion Appropriation Bill for the year, earlier submitted by Gov. Ambode on Nov. 29, 2016. The governor has signed the bill into law.
On Jan. 5, it passed the Bill for a Law, the Prohibition of the Act of Kidnapping and for Other Connected Purposes, with stiff penalties, including death sentence for offenders.
The bill, aimed at checking the spate of kidnapping in the state was sponsored by the Speaker of the House, Mr Mudashiru Obasa.
It prescribes death sentence for kidnappers whose victims die in their custody and life sentence for kidnappers whose victims do not die in their hands.
The Assembly, on Jan. 9 passed into law, the Lagos State Sports Trust Fund Bill, 2016; and Lagos State Sports Commission Bill, 2016.
Numerous bills, including The Lagos State Customary Court (Amendment) Bill, 2016; Lagos State Cancer Research Institute Bill, 2016; and Local Government Economic Planning and Development Board Bill, 2016 are at the committee stage.
Others, including the Lagos State Environmental Management and Protection Bill, 2015; Lagos State Public Works Corporation Bill, 2015; and Seal of Lagos State Government (Amendment) Bill, 2015 are at the second reading stage.
Mr Tunde Braimoh, Chairman, House Committee on Information, Security and Strategy gives an assurance to the residents that the Assembly will continue do its best through legislation.
He says this is imperative to give succour to the state residents, especially in a period of economic recession.
“The House of Assembly promises to live up to its billings as a partner with the executive to the ultimate benefit of the citizenry,’’ Braimoh said.
Mr Alex Omotehinse, Chairman, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Lagos Branch, however, says the lawmakers fell short in some areas.
Reviewing the activities of the House, Omotehinse scores the Assembly low in its response to petitions.
The rights campaigner is of the opinion that the House should attend fast to petitions and make timely interventions.
“CDHR, in 2016, submitted nothing less than six petitions to the House, but none of these petitions was attended to, except the last one we wrote about customs.
“I advise that the Assembly members should be up and doing as representatives of the people. When something happens at the grassroots and people inform the House, it is its responsibility to take such as a matter of urgency.’’
He also has reservations on the Lagos State law against street trading, arguing that its disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
According to him, CDHR has challenged the law because laws are made for man and not man for laws.
The activist, however, describes Neighbourhood Safety Agency Law, 2016, and Property Protection Law, 2016, enacted by the Assembly as welcome developments, and calls for effective implementation.
Mr Tope Musowo, a journalist and postgraduate student of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, describes the enactment of Neighbourhood Safety Agency Law and Properties Protection Law as overdue.
“Neighbourhood Safety Agency Law is a welcome development that is long overdue given the peculiarities of Lagos security challenges. So also is the Property Protection Law.
“But as laudable as these are, much still has to be done in terms of enforcement. There are so many laws in the state which are not enforced,’’ Musowo says.
In the assessment of factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Chief Segun Adewale, the Assembly is a rubber stamp of the executive.
He believes that there are no robust debates on issues in the House.
Adewale is of the opinion that the Assembly gives much attention to urban areas of Lagos State in its legislation in 2016, to the detriment of rural areas.
He urges the Assembly to shift attention from already developed areas of the state to the rural places where, according to him, the residents are suffering.
All eyes are on the Assembly to see how its operations in the next 12 months will impact on the wellbeing of Lagos residents.
Analysts say they look forward to the passage of more populist bills and resolutions for rapid socio-economic advancement of the Centre of Excellence.