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The leadership of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly has rendered account of its stewardship in the second session of the year 2020, declaring that a total of 18 bills were passed into law, including motions and resolutions.
Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Hon. Tare Porri, said despite the challenges faced during the Covid-19 shut down, the flood disaster that sacked legislators from their homes and the #EndSARS protest nationwide, the 6th Bayelsa Assembly has been the most pro-active legislative arm under the leadership of the speaker, Rt. Hon. Abraham Ingobere.
Hon. Porri noted that the 18 bills passed into law are expected to have a positive impact on the people of the state, insisting that the state Assembly under Speaker Ingobere has made citizen participation and public hearing mandatory during budget consideration by the House.
Hon. Porri commended the state governor, Senator Douye Diri, for sustaining a healthy and understanding relationship between the legislature and the executive, denying that the Assembly is not a rubber stamp to the executive and has a constitutional mandate of the House of Assembly to approve requests from the executive.
Porri, who is also the member representing Ekeremor Constituency 1, dismissed as unfounded the claims of “unnecessary” loan approvals for the Governor Douye Diri administration, insisting that all loan requests granted the administration are legitimate and tied to specific items.
He said the recent approvals are specifically for counterpart funding and intervention projects with institutions such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), SDGs and MDGs, ”These approvals are tied to a specific items. They were not loans for specific development and infrastructure projects. The loan approvals are to allow the state government access the interventionist funding and by the time the money are made available, the state would be better for it. They are not monies in the state government account.
“These are counterpart funding meant for intervention development. You cannot access such funds without the state making a commensurable contribution. We want to assure Bayelsa that once the monies are accessed, we will monitor and do our oversight function to ensure it is used for the purpose. We have also approved N3.5 billion as counterpart funding for SUBEB. If all these monies are used for the purpose, it will benefit the people.
“These are why you see some people refer to Bayelsa Assembly as rubber stamp. There is nothing like rubber stamp anywhere. The truth is that if you don’t have the details, you will find it difficult to appreciate what the state Assembly is doing. The question should be that are these projects in communities? The truth is that anything that will support the people of the state will be supported by the Assembly.
“The state government has not accessed most of the monies. The approval for zero digit loan sought from CBN has not been accessed. The loan to revamp Bayelsa Palm has not also been accessed. By the time these monies are made available, it will not go into government pocket. There is already a template that makes the money for the purpose it was meant for. They not loans for government spending. Bayelsans should not worry about some of these details,” he said.
