Ogun Assembly Promoting Good Governance Through Legislative/ Executive Interdependence

Those who designed democratic system of government and insisted that it is anchored on a tripod of distinctive but mutually interdependent arms of the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary knew that such collaboration could only result in the delivery of better service to the governed.

The fact that such partnership remains constant, in spite of the clearly defined role of each arm in collaboration with one another, aids check and balances of each of the three arms of government in any democracy.

Thus, an introspective look at the results of such legislative/executive collaboration in the last one year of the current Members of the Ogun State House of Assembly indicated that the Ninth Legislature under the leadership of the Rt. Hon. Speaker, Olakunle Oluomo has passed a total of 21 bills.

This is just as the House of Assembly has also passed no fewer than 22 motions into resolutions which had assisted government in taking an immediate action on certain issues relating to the advancement of socio-economic well-being of the people of the state.

Noting the successes so far recorded by the current administration in the State, it is evident that all the bills and resolutions so far passed by the lawmakers have immediate and direct positive impacts on the lives of the people of the state, one of such bills was the 2020 Appropriation Bill titled: “a Bill for a Law to Authorize the Issuance and Appropriation of the sum of Four Hundred and Forty Nine Billion, Nine Hundred and Seventy-Three Million, Six Hundered and Ninety Thousand, Two Hundred and Seventy-Five Naira, Seventy-Nine Kobo Only for the Services of Ogun State Government of Nigeria, for the Financial Year ending, Thirty-First Day of December, Two Thousand and Twenty”.

For the first time in the history of the State Legislature, the Assembly in partnership with the executive arm held a retreat, where those responsible for budget preparation and implementation, including budget development experts from the private sector had an interface with the Lawmakers on the components of the budget and how it would be effectively implemented before the Assembly began the consideration and eventual passage of the 2020 appropriation bill.

Another bill that underwent an immediate passage upon assumption of office by the current administration was a bill titled: “HB No 01/OG/2019: a bill for a law to amend the Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology, Law 2017”, which helped to break the entanglement between MAUSTECH and the then Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, thereby resolving the lock jam created as a result of the creation of MAUSTECH.

It sought to revalidate the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Law, by ensuring the return of smooth academic activities to the institution with all property of the institution hitherto transferred to MAUSTECH now returned to MAPOLY.

The passage became imperative as MAPOLY that was reputed for academic excellence with a record of efficiency and effectiveness running close to achieving self- sustainability was hindered by disruption of academic activities occasioned by the untidy arrangement created by the entanglement of the two institutions in the old bill creating MAUSTECH.

This, almost lead to the close of operations by MAPOLY in the course of the logjam, because it no longer had property of its own, until the amendment law was passed by the Oluomo led- House of Assembly and assented to by the state Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun.

In the same vein, the ninth Assembly also passed the State Security Trust Fund (Amendment) Law, 2019 and the State Road Management Agency (Amendment) Law, 2019 by the end of August last year. These two very important and people-centered bills are also critical to the day to day living of the people as issues of security were being addressed headlong through the creation of pool of resources to procure security equipment and other infrastructure.