Kwara Assembly passes six bills, 30 motions in nine months – House Leader

The Kwara State House of Assembly, North Central Nigeria has disclosed that it passed a total of six bills and 30 motions in the last nine months of the inauguration of the current 10th Assembly.

The Leader of the House, Barrister Abdulkadir Oba Magaji, disclosed this in an interview in Ilorin.

According to him, some of the bills passed include the Rural Access Road Law, Local Government Electoral Law (Amendment), Environmental Law (Amendment), Education and Trust Fund Law (Amendment), and 2024 Appropriation Law.

He noted that Governor AbdulRazaq had assented to the affected bills after their passage on the floor of the state House of Assembly.

“We passed about six bills. We have passed a bill on rural access roads and another one on rural agencies. We have passed the 2024 appropriation bill and amendment to the local government electoral law, environmental law and trust fund law” Magaji said.

“Those are the six bills we have already passed and signed by the Executive Governor of Kwara State. We are in the process of passing RUWASSA law.

“Several motions have been moved and passed. As at last count, I think we have moved between 28 and 30 motions, which had an immediate and positive impact on our people”.

Environmental law

On the indiscriminate dumping of refuse, the House leader explained that an amendment was effected on the state environmental law to ensure commensurate penalty for offences related to the environment.

He added that the government has resolved not to treat environmental issues with kid gloves, hence the decision of the House to throw its weight behind the increase in fines for the defaulters.

“For every Kwaran who has been following the activities of the Kwara State Tenth Assembly, they will realize that the Assembly has hit the ground running. We did an amendment to the Environmental Law where we increased the penalty for the offenders. 

“The penalty was formerly between N1000 and N5000 but now it is between N50,000 and N100,000. The government of Kwara State is taking the issue of environmental pollution seriously. That was the essence of the bill. It was an executive bill, which has been passed and signed into law”, Magaji said.

Speaking on the relationship between the executive and the legislature, the House Leader pointed out that the synergy has given birth to dividends of democracy for the people.

He added that the Tenth Assembly under its Speaker, Engr Yakubu Danladi Salihu, would not mind being tagged “Rubber Stamp” in as much as the relationship was tailored to move the state forward.

Magaji said, “When there is synergy between the executive and the legislature, some people would think we are ‘rubber stamp’ because what they expect is that there must be a fight. It is just like if you are married and you have a very harmonious relationship with your wife, they will call you that your wife has taken your cloth and given you her wrapper. That is what they do.

“Look at it, this government is performing optimally and to its best. It has shown even in the whole of Nigeria that Kwara State has performed creditably well. Our Governor is among the three best Governors in the whole of Nigeria. It is not easy for somebody to be given Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum and it is because of his performance. The legislature should have a synergy to corroborate and partner with the executive so that the people can benefit from the dividends of democracy.

“Why do we need to fight somebody that is actually performing?

“When the Governor is performing, why don’t we have to synergize with him? We have to cooperate with him. I can assure you that most of the work that we are doing is for the benefit and development of Kwara State. We are not a rubber stamp. But if that is what they chose to call us for Kwara State to move forward, we are ready to be called that”.

Tunde Akanbi