By Stephen Adeleye.
Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi, on Wednesday signed Kogi Health Insurance Agency, the State Youth Development Commission bill, and six other bills into law.
The bills were signed by the governor in his office at Government House, Lokoja, in the presence of the Speaker, Kogi House of Assembly, Mr Matthew Kolawole, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mohammed Ibrahim (SAN) and other dignitaries.
In his remarks, the governor said that the signing was another milestone in the history of Kogi State, describing it as unprecedented.
According to the governor, we are signing up to eight bills enacted; some are executive bills while some are member bills and we are signing them into law today.
He said the bills were basically to improve revenue generation in Kogi, saying, ”we cannot continue to depend on the federation account every month.
”Hence, we must look inward; that is why majority of the bills are centered on revenue generation, and others on critical sectors of the demographic in our their state, which has to do with youths and sports development.
”We are relatively young and God has made us to be the leaders of today; every government must think of tomorrow of our children and the unborn generation.
”Today, we have signed all the eight bills and next week we hope to continue signing others another bills into law.
”We have never had it this good in the history of Kogi House of Assembly; we sincerely appreciate the speaker and principal members of the House.
”This is a demonstration of harmony, synergy and integration and cooperation among these arms of government under our leadership,” Bello said.
He also commended the state’s Attorney General for painstakingly going through the bills to ensure no contradiction with the extant law of the country.
He added: ”In Kogi, especially those of us that are saddled with the responsibility of steering the ship, even though they are lot of noise and misinformation out there.
”What I am concern about is to continue to do the work while the wailer continue to wail.
”We will continue to do our best to ensure that we take Kogi State to the next level”.
The governor called for continued cooperation and understanding of the media in developing the state, while urging them to be professional in their reportage.
”By the special grace of God, come January 27, 2020, we will invite all of you for our swearing-in for second term,” Bello said.
Earlier, the Speaker said that eight bills would be signed to make a total of 40 bills that had been passed by the Assembly and assented to by the governor.
”We are glad that our bills are not just being passed in the House but are being transformed into law.
”Six are executive bills and all them point towards revenue generation.
”The bills would also transform the state in the area of youth development and encourage us to access fund from international donors to our state,” Kolawole said.
He named the bills to include: Kogi State Utility Infrastructure Management and Compliance Agency, Kogi State Youth Development Commission, and Kogi State Health Insurance Agency.
Others are: Mineral Resources Development Agency, Public Audit Law, repeal and re-enact the Kogi Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Enterprise Development Agency and Kogi State Development Trust Fund and other matter connected there with, 2018.
He commended the governor for his cooperation and for signing the bills into law, saying, they would have direct impact in the lives of the youths in terms of sports, empowerment and job creation.
The Special Adviser to the governor on Legislative Matters, Haruna Yusuf, said the eight bills were for the first batch, while another batch would come next week.
