The Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Yekini Idaiye, has dismissed reports that the legislature is planning to repeal the financial autonomy law for the Legislature and Judiciary.
Idaiye said the House is instead considering an amendment aimed at strengthening the monitoring and supervision of capital projects under the autonomy arrangement. Speaking to journalists after plenary on Wednesday, the Speaker said the confusion followed his reference to an old document during the session.
“The message I made was that I was reading the old order paper. So you saw me, if you concentrated very well”.
Idaiye stressed that the House had no intention of reversing the autonomy granted to the Legislature and Judiciary.
“We are not reversing the autonomy. We are all beneficiaries of autonomy”.
He explained that the proposed amendment is focused on ensuring that projects funded under the autonomy arrangement are properly executed and monitored.
“Some people discovered that most projects are not executed. So for us to have a good understanding of the purpose of which we got the autonomy, especially on the side of the project party, what we are thinking is that we want to create a form of an agency”.
According to the Speaker, the proposed agency would monitor the release of funds, execution and supervision of capital projects for both arms of government.
“They will be monitoring them because as it is now, there is no proper monitoring”.
He said the same arrangement would apply to the Judiciary, adding that the proposed amendment would not affect the financial aspect of autonomy.
“What we are saying is that the amendment is not going to affect the financial aspect of it, but the operational side of it that it will affect”.
Idaiye blamed the controversy on misinformation on social media and dismissed claims that the state government was attempting to undermine legislative and judicial autonomy.
