If PDP says the National Assembly is a rubber stamp assembly,I agree but my state Edo has a well celebrated thumb-printing assembly.
You need to read and write before you can use rubber stamp, but you need to be just a blind or can’t read and write to use thumb printing, that is the likelihood of Edo state House of Assembly.
Sometimes I wonder the criterion for the issuance of the merit awards in Nigeria.
The legislature is an institution that represents the collective interest of the people through the enactment of laws and exercise of oversight functions on the activities and processes of the executive.
The place of primacy belongs to the legislature and governmental functions start with legislations.
The functions of the legislature include amongst others,the custodian of state finance,appropriation and approval governmental expenditure/spending, monitoring of budget implementation through various ministries, determing the viability of setting any governmental project,control of the excesses of the executive and,where necessary,the exposure of corruption through their oversight functions.
Based on excellent performance of the above constitutional functions of the legislature,good governance is breast-fed the people through organic practices of democratic principles and procedures.
In Edo State, the speaker and his members approve anything approvable at the eccentric request of the governor without recourse to the collective interest of the people.
For instance, Edo state has three major state roads that connect the state to the heart of the country which are, Benin to Abuja,Benin to Warri as well as Benin to Lagos and all the Esan- connecting roads.
AS a corollary to the above, a serious government will consider the economic benefit of these roads to the people and the safety of it’s commuters.
Thes roads are a total write off.yet the said government will approve the non-approvable without critical attention to these major roads.
The power of the ministries has been usurped by the governor, and commissioners are just mere figure head and lackeys collecting salaries and allowances,the governor doing whatever he chooses to do with gross impunity.
There had been alleged cases of substandard jobs done by contractors and so on.What has the Legislature to done to that effect for the collective interest of the people apart from its self aggrandisement and that of his members,and the governor being a notable accomplice to this malfeasance and gross maladministration.
In Edo state under the administration of Obaseki since 2020,there has always been an award of one contract to another based on well orchestrated propaganda on the pages of news paper without a single one practically executed.
However, many people in the state are ignorant of the following that anything PDP offers is a “GO”even if it’s a dead horse.
Democracy is the government of every body, we all have stake, it is high time we all learned the norms of Democracy to better our state.
*PDPs at her best has no shame that they can even dance naked in the market while their supported shenanigans clap for them* .
*Henry J* writes ✍ from Garki Abuja