ADDRESS BY RT. HON UMAR AHMED IMAM, THE SPEAKER, KOGI STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, AT THE RESUMPTION OF PLENARY SITTING ON TUESDAY 30TH AUGUST 2016
Courtesies,
Distinguished Hon. Members, it is heart-warming to have you all back into this hallowed chamber, hale and hearty. I, therefore, welcome you back and congratulate my senior colleague, Hon. Haruna Idoko Musa, Idah State Constituency and my friend, the newest member and the only medical doctor in the House, Hon. (Dr) Friday Alih, Ofu State Constituency for subscribing to their respective oath of allegiance and oath of office. We are once again a fully-fledged House with Twenty-Five Members. May I wish you well and successes in your legislative sojourn. In the meantime, I commiserate with the Majority Leader, Prince Mathew Kolawole for the loss and interment of his mother. May her gentle soul continue to rest in peace.
My dear Hon. Colleagues, allow me this honour to give praises and thanks to the Lord Almighty for His favours and good health unto us, and for our journey mercies back to Lokoja from Lagos after the weeklong retreat and from our respective constituencies after the recess.
I am obliged to make a statement.
First of all, I must commend the organisers of the retreat for their quality presentations on the ethics of legislative proceedings. No doubt the programme was a success. I urge the Hon. Members to allow the lessons learnt, particularly those on ethics and team work, to prevail in our legislative businesses.
Last week, August 27, 2016; Kogi State marked its silver jubilee. The last 25 years in the life of our dear State are a lifetime of hope; good governance, infrastructure, physical and human development, social justice amongst others. We have shared experiences of successes and challenges since the creation of the State to situate for ourselves a better future. These experiences should permeate in our official responsibilities as signposts to guide against the pitfalls of successive administrations and to direct our achievements from their successes. I, therefore, felicitate with His Excellency, the Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello and his cabinet members as well as the great people of Kogi State. Congratulations!
Distinguished Hon. Members, I would like to emphasize that all we needed to achieve as Members of the Sixth Assembly, and that everything we should ever need in a legislative House must never be less than quality representation and good government. As we work with other arms of government in synergy, we must advance our legislative processes with precision to achieve success and deliverable gains of democracy. Infrastructure and facilities in this Assembly determine how we work. The spate of renovations going on is only but an attempt to improve on our working environment to experience the beauty and power of a truly legislative assembly that ensures good governance to the people, provides security to its Members and quality management to its Staff. We must, indeed, adapt to the task of providing a conducive atmosphere for legislative practices to thrive.
In particular, I urge the Majority Leader to come up with list of bills, motions and reports that have not been given due legislative consideration by the House. Committees with referral cases are advised to speed up their work. The success and quality of legislative activities reside with the Committees. Efforts should not be spared in ensuring competent Secretariat to organize and manage the activities of the committees as much as satisfactory. The Secretaries will now be held responsible for the failure of any committee in meeting up with its given deadlines. The Clerk of the House is to ensure that they live up to their responsibilities.
Thank you all.
