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Anniversary: Anambra Assembly passes 11 bills, 62 resolutions in 1yr – Speaker

Anniversary
By Chimezie Anaso
Awka, June 10, 2024 (NAN) The Eighth Anambra House of Assembly says it passed 11 of the 21 bills, including three private member bills, brought before it since its inauguration on June 12, 2023.

The Speaker, Somtochukwu Udeze, disclosed this at a news conference held on Monday in Awka to mark his first anniversary in office.

Udeze said that of the  21 bills brought to the House, 11 were executive bills, while 10 were from private members.

The list includes the “Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission Bill”, “Revenue Administration, Consolidation and Harmonisation Bill”, “Anambra State Touting Prohibition Bill”, “2024 Appropriation Bill”, Health Facilities Monitoring And Accreditation Agency Bill”.

Others are the “Anambra State Peace Building and Conflict Management Agency Bill”,  “Anambra State House of Assembly Service Commission Amendment Bill”, “Anambra State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission Bill” and “Trafficking in Persons Prohibition, Enforcement and Administration Bill”.

The speaker also listed “Secret Cultism and Similar Activities Prohibition Bill”, “Private Colleges of Nursing and Midwifery Bill” and “Anambra State Newspaper and Printing Corporation Repeal Bill”, as products of the Assembly.

He said the Assembly also considered 62 motions and made over 70 resolutions from reports of various committees.

“To date, we have passed 11 bills, including three member bills, while 10 are still being considered.

“When compared with previous assemblies, this is the highest we have had in one year,” he said.

Udeze further said that even though the 30-member House comprised three political parties, including APGA-17, PDP-2, YPP-3 and LP-8, “the relationship with the executive has been harmonious and progressive”.

He said that the vision of the eighth  Assembly was “to be the best legislature in Nigeria, championing the interest of the people of Anambra through effective and responsible representation”.

He said: “This eighth Assembly has been able to enact quality laws and passed numerous people-oriented resolutions emanating from motions.

“As the House celebrates its first anniversary, we are thankful to God who has led us thus far in our legislative engineering.

“We are equally commending Gov. Chukwuma Soludo for transforming the Assembly complex into a modern edifice with the massive reconstruction of the entire complex, offices and the ongoing landscaping of the premises.

“I express gratitude to Anambra people for appreciating the work and achievements of the House in the last one year,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

APC/USO
Edited by Sam Oditah

Election

By Douglas Okoro

Abakaliki, June 10, 2024 (NAN) The Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has called for a credible, free, fair and transparent election in the forthcoming Local Government poll scheduled to hold in Ebonyi in July.

Mr Ernest Nwaze, Chairman of IPAC in Ebonyi, made the call on Monday while briefing newsmen in Abakaliki on the outcome of their meeting held on Monday.

Nwaze said that the group assessed the preparations of the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) ahead of the chairmanship and councillorship polls and was satisfied with the level of preparation.

He said that statistics from EBSIEC showed that 16 out of the 17 registered political parties in Ebonyi would be participating in the July election.

“We have just ended our meeting which was to assess the performance of EBSIEC ahead of the July council polls in the state, and after our analysis, we came to the conclusion that the commission has performed above 80 per cent.

“We resolved that all the registered political parties in Ebonyi will participate in the election.

“We have also resolved that if EBSIEC continues to abide by the processes it has rolled out for the conduct of the election, then, IPAC will play according to the rules and participate fully.

“EBSIEC must ensure that the exercise is free, fair, transparent, and every political party should be treated equal by providing a level playing field,” Nwaze said.

He said that the recent comment by one Mr Splendor Oko-Eze, a chieftain of the Labour Party (LP) in Ebonyi, alleging that the party would not participate in the coming council poll should be disregarded and discountenanced.

He said: “In every political party, the chief spokesperson is the chairman of the party; that you were a candidate of a party in an election, does not confer leadership position on you.

‘Today, there is no faction in the Labour Party and the only chairman recognised by the law and the national leadership of LP is Mr Godwin Jioke and his led-executive.

“The party rolled out nomination forms for aspirants, and the party has indeed conducted its primaries and have submitted names of candidates for the election to EBSIEC.”

According to him, the only registered political party not participating in the election and which did not attend the meeting was the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

He explained that the party was not invited to the meeting because of a subsisting circular from the national leadership of the party stating that the party was yet to resolve issues of leadership tussle in the state chapter of the party.

“So, we did not know who to invite in particular and that’s why we did not invite the PDP and that’s why the party won’t be participating in the forthcoming polls,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Sunday Nwambam, Special Assistant to Gov. Francis Nwifuru on Inter Party Affairs, applauded the state government for providing an enabling environment for opposition parties to thrive in the state.

He assured that the forthcoming council election would be free, fair, transparent, and would be conducted in line with best practices.

He commended the state electoral umpire for their level of preparedness, and enjoined the electoral body to stick by its rules, regulations and guidelines for the exercise.

“Government has already assured all the participating political parties and their candidates of a level playing field, and our governor is committed to deepening grassroots democratic governance,” Nwambam said.

NAN reports that the All Progressives Congress (APC), Zenith Labour Party, Accord Party, Action Alliance, All Progressives Grand Alliance among others, attended the meeting.

NAN further reports that IPAC is an umbrella body of all the registered political parties in the country. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

ODO/OJI/EMAF
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Edited by Maureen Ojinaka and Emmanuel Afonne

I’ve not touched LG funds since I became governor—Mutfwang

Money
By Patience Aliyu
Jos, June 10, 2024 (NAN), Gov. Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau says he has not touched or misused local government funds since he became the governor of the state.

Mutfwang said this on Monday in Jos at the swearing-in of the newly appointed chairman and members of the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC).

The governor, a former chairman of Mangu Local Government, said he believed that the funds meant for local government councils should be used by that tier of government.

“It therefore pains some of us when they make generalisations that governors are stealing local government money.

“I think they should be specific rather than make generalization. Let me say that I am a firm believer in the effectiveness and efficacy of the local government system. I believe that government must come closer to the people.

“The only way we can get government and governance closer to the people is to allow the people themselves to elect those who they want to lead them,” he said.

Mutfwang said that the appointees were carefully selected to lead the commission and bring integrity to the organisation.

“It is unfortunate that when we came on board, we had to dissolve PLASIEC, and we did that based on sound legal truth.

“PLASIEC, as it was then, was improperly constituted by an illegal Speaker (of House of Assembly) and there was a court judgment to that effect.

“The speaker who confirmed their appointments was set aside by the court, so every action he took was against the law“, he said.

According to him, he believes that the people deserve to choose who will work for them, and that must be guaranteed.

He told members of PLASIEC that they were coming in at a time when the commission had a trust challenge.

He said that the people no longer believed that a state electoral commission should exist with even some people calling for it to be scrapped.

“I certainly don’t agree with that because we’re operating a federal system; ours is a federation, not a unitary government.

“If people are worried about allowing the local government system to work, they should also allow the state governments to function“, he said.

The new PLASIEC Chairman, Mr Plangji Chishak, thanked Mutfwang for the opportunity to serve the Plateau people.

Chishak, who until his appointment was a staff member of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), assured the people of a credible and transparent election that would be acceptable to all. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng).

PAM/KUA

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Edited by Uche Anunne