Majority Leaders of the State Houses of Assembly drawn from the six states in the South-West region, have converged on Akure, the Ondo state capital to brainstorm on the development of Legislative Reform Agenda for Southwest with a view to harnessing legislative practices in the Zone.
BusinessDay reports that the inauguration which took place at the weekend had representatives from Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Lagos States.
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the South-West Legislative Reform Implementation Committee of the 10th assembly, the majority leader of the Ondo state House of Assembly, Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi said the SLRIC will continue to serve as a rally point for all Southwest majority leaders in order to enhance their various regional integration.
According to him, the inaugural meeting will lay the foundation upon which the new Houses of Assembly will build on in the zone and it is expected of the majority leaders in the South-West region to encourage their co-lawmakers to contribute immensely to the development of their constituents.
Ogunmolasuyi, who is now the new Chairman of SLRIC after taking over from the immediate past Majority leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Oyeniran Agunbiade, therefore, promised that the Forum under his leadership will strive to do better than the past and ensure that all the objectives which it stands for shall be uphold.
Ogunmolasuyi, who represents Owo Constituency 1, said; “Not only that we shall also ensure that the platforms which will better the lot of South West Houses of Assembly are created thereby making us the cynosure of eyes amongst all the regions in Nigeria.
“We have achieved success on our mandate, we are mandated to champion legislative reform and ensure its implementation in the Southwest. We have achieved brotherhood among majority leaders in the Southwest, we have achieved cordiality.
“We are striving to ensure that all legislators in Southwest come together to know ourselves better, to interact and know the area of interest that will benefit individuals, as well as create harmonious relationship among all the houses in the southwest.
“We have done cross learning programs, in some critical areas of oversights, budgeting. We have championed the harmonization of rules of the Southwest where the major provision that are in consonance with best legislative practices are extracted from all the rules of each of the Houses of Assembly are being put together.
“We make sure that the Houses also follow the procedure outlined in the rules. We went round the state to attend plenary and see how the rules are being used. We have been able to encourage all other zones in the country to harmonize their rules. We are in the process of making sure that the database for all legislators in the Southwest and to come together and interact,” he said.
While declaring the inaugural meeting open, the Speaker of Ondo State House Of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji, who spoke through the Deputy Speaker, Abayomi Akinruntan said; “I will like to state that the committee should ensure that a platform be created for effective service delivery as regards oversight which will, enhance the level of legislative compliance among the Southwest House of Assembly.”
