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From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The Speakers of the 36 Houses of Assembly in Nigeria are at the verge of concluding talks with the 36 state governors in the country, towards achieving financial autonomy for the legislative arm of government across the nation.
The disclosure was made by the Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin, in an interview with journalists on Tuesday shortly after he addressed legislative workers under the aegis of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), Oyo State Chapter, that shut down all the gates of the State Assembly complex.
Daily Sun gathered that the bill for financial autonomy for the legislature was passed by the National Assembly in 2018 and President Muhammadu Buhari, also followed up with a Presidential Order 10, which gave teeth to the law to bite. But it has not been implemented by the state governors since then.
The legislative workers shut down the gates Oyo Assembly Complex at Agodi, Ibadan, in compliance with the directives of the national body of the association that members of PASAN nationwide should embark on an indefinite strike to press home their demand for financial autonomy for the second arm of government.
Ogundoyin said: “I want to use this medium to appreciate the PASAN, because without you we can’t be a legislative arm of government. I know that PASAN remains the landlord of the legislative arm of government and it is our responsibility to build PASAN, as well the civil service. We appreciate, encourage and support you in all your endeavours.
“I know that whatever you fight for is a responsible fight and it’s your right. What you are fighting for can only build the legislative arm of government. The lawmakers and I will always support what will bring development to the legislative arm of government as long as you are united. I can guarantee you that the autonomy for the State House of Assembly nationwide will be granted by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF). We understand the agitation by PASAN across the federation and I can assure you that the speakers’ forum has been working on the autonomy for the States House of Assembly in order for us to achieve this during our tenure.
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“We have had series of meetings at the Conference of Speakers, even with the Governors’ Forum. With what is on ground and the progress we have made, we are almost at the finishing line. Details of the meeting at the ongoing Governors’ Forum will be released at the appropriate time. I thank PASAN for the steps taken because it has been long overdue for the legislative arm of government have its financial autonomy.
“The only stumbling block is that the Governors’ Forum wants to go about the financial autonomy at the same time and same method of implementation. No state will go about it in different ways because that will bring about uniformity and once that arises, some states will be at an advantage as compared to some other states. The general consensus is that we will use one method for all the states and that will bring about rapid development and independence for the Houses of Assembly nationwide.
“The truth about this situation is that now that it has got to this point, it could have been resolved long before now. But it is unfortunate that the PASAN from the national level to the state has taken a unilateral decision in order to make the strike indefinite until the financial autonomy is approved. The situation is not unique to Oyo State but across the federation.”
The legislative workers in the state, led by their chairman, Yemi Alade, dressed in their official uniform and carried placards, with inscriptions that included: ‘Give us our autonomy. Enough is enough’, ‘We say no to executive slavery’, ‘Legislative arm is a separate arm of government’, ‘AGF, implement Order 10, 2020’, and ‘Legislative financial autonomy is a constitutional right.”
Alade, however, alleged that the governors have been the ones thwarting implementation of financial autonomy for the legislative arm of government, saying: “We are fighting for the non-implementation of our financial autonomy. It is a provisional constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Having observed that with the current emasculation of the legislative arm of government, there can be no true democracy.
“The bill has been passed since 2018, then in May, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari also capped it up with a Presidential Order 10. But, up till now, they are yet to implement it. And this is a fundamental provision of the constitution which has been relegated to the background. As a member of staff of the House of Assembly, if there is no true democracy, no independence, it will affect the democracy of the country. It is affecting the entire country, not only the staff of the House of Assembly because the principle of separation of power stipulates that each arm of government must act separately and if there is no financial autonomy, all other arm of government would be in slavery to the executive arm.
“Our grievances are against both the state and federal government. There is a presidential order that mandated them to implement this financial autonomy but the Governors’ Forum are the ones behind the non-implementation. And we want to know if there is any other law or individual who is greater than the constitution of the country, that is why we had to come out to embark on the strike because, if there could be a presidential order, which was not followed, then there is a serious problem in the country.”
