Politics

Kwara Assembly commence training course for APC lawmakers-elect, today

 

By Mumini Abdulkareem

The Kwara State House of Assembly will today begin a training course for the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers-elect in the state.
The two day programme which will take place at Whitefields Hotel, Ilorin will commence by  9:00am prompt.
Director of  Information, Kwara State House of Assembly, Ayo Akanbi confirmed the event in a WhatsApp message to Assembly correspondents last night.
The message reads: Please note that Induction Training for Members-elect holds on 9th & 10th May, 2019 at Whitefield Hotel at 9 am”.
The House induction course for the elected lawmakers is coming about a month after a similar one was held for them in Ghana by the Governor-elect, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
The lawmakers-elect are expected to be officially sworn-in June 6 next month at the House of Assembly complex after the inauguration of the new government on May, 29, 2019.
Following concerns raised in some quarters about the fact that about 99 percent of the incoming legislators are new in governance and the ‘blunder’ by the 80-member Transition Committee of the Governor-elect demanding for handover notes from the legislature, the House decided to educate the incoming lawmakers on key aspect of lawmaking in other not to erode the high standard been set by the outgoing lawmakers.
The 80-member committee of the Governor-elect attracted the wrath of the legislators recently over its demand for the handover notes from the legislative arm of government through a letter signed by its chairmen, who is an alumnus of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Kuru, Aminu Adisa Logun.
A similar letter, investigation by this reporter revealed, was also written to the Kwara State judiciary.
The request which however attracted condemnation from the lawmakers during a recent plenary at the floor of the House saw members frowned at the step despite the governor-elect committee having former parliamentarians as members who could have been consulted for informed decision on such gross abuse of rules and regulations concerning their mandate.
It was gathered that some of the lawmakers before now have approached the PDP lawmakers from their constituencies to guide and support them not to embarrass themselves in their new environment.
Towards this end, the lawmakers resolved to organise induction courses for the incoming legislators to prepare them and sharpen their legislative skills ahead of their inauguration to guide against a situation where the legislature will be exposed to ridicule because of their conducts.
The Speaker, Dr Ali Ahmad while reading the resolution of the House on the matter described it as anomalous as it amounted to setting bad precedents for the incoming lawmakers in the state adding that to accede to the request of the committee would “kill the independence of the legislature”.
The training will feature resource persons including serving and ex-legislators from the state and other parts of the country who are grounded in the art of lawmaking.
Following the conclusion of the general election in the state, 23 out of the 24 lawmakers elected as incoming members of the Kwara State House of Assembly are first timers who lack any previous knowledge about governance at any level before.

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