As Speaker of Kogi House of Assembly, I was able to buy a brand New 18 seater Bus on hire purchase from a loan secured from Intercontinental Bank at a monthly repayment of 100,000 Naira per month, which was put on first line charge before any disbursement into any month’s expenditure head. I withdraw the Members Big Bus that was always idle and redeploy to join the new bus to offer full transport service to the staff of the assembly to cushion the hardship of getting to Assembly from town and get back after closing. No kobo input from Executive and yet we are not autonomous financially.
I was able to save compulsorily to build a block for both staff and Honourable canteen to provide quality food while we work full day instead of rushing home and cutting short hours of dedicated service. The physical canteen is solid and still a physical structure of Notice. I cause and support a befitting Mosque and a big Church cathedral to be constructed, completed and commence full worship.
Since 1991 when the Assembly was created and a building provided there was renovation or and physical enhancement on the original outlook or internal rehabilitation but I cause a total internal restructuring and redesigning to give a modern look of seating and uplifting the entire interior and a major upliftment of the external outlook. We did general landscaping.
Every three months every member will give account of number of motions raised by each member that touches the life of his constituency immaterial of your party affiliation. There was more things or passed resolutions for the executive to work with.
Oversight Functions were regular, challenging and severally we have to tell the Executive to leave us alone to do our work as prescribe by the constitution. We worked for our autonomy and sustain our contribution to the growth of the state. We exert our authority on the Local Government Administration. We suspend some one of who is in jail now, Ogori Magongo. If you are bad we expose you and we punish you. Our LGA were not run by the Executive but the House of Assembly.
A sick State Assembly is a sick state.
A well house of Assembly is a progressive. I was involve in spearheading three state of Assembly Structure, the one after the removal of Rt Hon Buba Jibril in which he through patriotism concede to the removal and the due process followed to the letter even against the wish and interest of the Governor. The second the one that brought me in as Speaker in 2007, I design, midwife and guided it for 4 years and finally the one that brought in my predecessor Rt Hon Abdullahi Bello which Wada could not manage after the exit of IBRO.
Hummmm am sick and bleeding profoundly on what is happening now to our Assembly. Can the Legislators have a re-think that History is waiting to judge the events on ground? Will the Executive appreciate that outside politics we are seriously accountable for both the good the bad and the ugly of any Government. As of my time it cost an average of 29million and another 15 million of members salaries and allowances and the support staff all from collectable revenue of the state. Totalling about 44 million which today I do not know the actual figure but this is the minimum expenditure of the state on that arm of Government being politicised.
We have no state other than Kogi, our stake must start and end there. This is a wake up call.
– His Excelency, Rt. Hon. Clarence Olafemi JP
