June 11, 2018

Mr Najeem Salaam, Speaker of Osun House of Assembly says the financial autonomy granted state Houses of Assembly should not be used as instrument for muscle flexing with the executives.

The speaker said in statement on Monday in Osogbo by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Goke Salaam, that although the autonomy would end executive inference in the affairs of the assemblies, it should not be used to create friction.

He said that the new freedom should be properly deployed to serve the people better.

Salaam noted that the absence of financial independence had subdued the legislative arm of government, which ought to have served as the direct voice of the people.

“The watchdog role of the state legislature has been long subdued because the executive controls the coffers and it could use it as instrument of coercion to have its way in the course of governance.

“But now, the executive will come to the table with the mindset of interacting with its equal’’.

The speaker commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the amendment into law, saying that it  demonstrated that Buhari was a true democrat who wanted democracy to work at its full course.

He advised leadership of the states parliaments across the country to use the autonomy as an instrument of building synergy for the development of their states.