By Mumini Abdulkareem
The 8th Kwara State House of Assembly has passed 42 bills and 120 motions in almost four years of its inauguration.
The House also passed 299 resolutions on various issues of public concerns during the period under review.
The Speaker of the 8th Assembly and former chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Justice, Dr Ali Ahmad, disclosed during an interview with newsmen in Ilorin, the state capital.
The disclosure is coming barely four weeks to the expiration of the tenure of the legislature under Ahmad’s leadership.
According to the breakdown by the Speaker, the House passed six bills in the first legislative session, nine in the second, 18 in the third and nine in the outgoing fourth session.
For the motions, 44 sailed through in the first session, 32 in second session, 33 for third session and 11 in the current session.
The breakdown further showed that 96 resolutions were passed in the first legislative session, 76 in the second, 107 in the third and 20 in the outgoing session.
The Speaker said members of the current legislature were able to sponsor a number of private bills, which he described as unprecedented in the history of the House.
Ahmad, who is reputed for sponsoring the 480- page Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) in the House of Representatives, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the outgoing State House of Assembly.
He said one of the legacies his leadership would be remembered for was the repeal of the pension law for former Governors and Deputy Governors.
Ahmad said people were in doubt about the sincerity of the House to amend the law but later turned out to be true.
The Speaker stated further that the outgoing legislature enjoyed full autonomy and resisted being a rubber stamp in the hands of the executive despite being of the same ruling party.
“Yes, we are satisfied. We did so many things since the creation of Kwara State. We were able to introduce legislative bill not from the executive. This is the first time we would be having private member bills. Before now, you will wait for the executive to bring bills. If they don’t bring it, that is the end of the day. But that has changed. I’m sure the ninth Assembly will do the same thing.
“So, those initiatives are there. We have passed about five or six landmark bills. We made the bill on health insurance. Today, the health insurance that caters for people, who are downtrodden. We have about N1billion for them in this year’s budget. Why you have not seen the effect is that I think the banks are not sure whether the incoming administration will..
