Edo Speaker denies alleged plan to repeal legislative, judicial autonomy

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The new Speaker of the Edo House of Assembly, Mr Yekini Idiaye

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By Ozioruva Aliu

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Speaker of the Edo House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Yekini Idaiye, has dismissed reports that the House is seeking to repeal the financial autonomy law for the Legislature and Judiciary.

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Rather, he said what is being proposed is an amendment to strengthen project monitoring.

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Speaking to journalists shortly after plenary on Wednesday evening, Idaiye said the confusion arose after he was seen reading an old document during plenary.

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“The message I made was that I was reading the old order paper. So you saw me, if you concentrated very well.”

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The Speaker insisted that the House is not reversing autonomy, noting that both the Legislature and Judiciary are beneficiaries of the law.

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“We are not reversing the autonomy. We are all beneficiaries of autonomy.

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“What we are trying to do is that we are looking at the capital side of it, like the projects. Some people discovered that most projects are not executed.

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“So for us to have a good understanding of the purpose of which we got the autonomy, especially on the side of the project party, what we are thinking is that we want to create a form of an agency,” he said.

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He said the agency would be responsible for monitoring the release of funds, execution, and supervision of all capital projects for both arms.

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“That all projects will be passing through that agency. They will be monitoring them because as it is now, there is no proper monitoring.

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“So we want to have an agency that we want to amend. So that they will be the one monitoring both the release of funds, the execution, the supervision. And when you finish, you bring your certificate, take it to the agency,” he stated.

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On whether the judiciary is also affected, the Speaker said: “It is the same thing. They are together, the judiciary and the legislative arm.

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Idiaye blamed the controversy on misinformation on social media, and praised Gov. Monday Okpebholo for his performance.

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“I don’t know how they were misled by the so-called social media voices, you know they want to run down the government.

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“And nobody can run down the government of Senator Okpebholo. The man is doing very well. I can see it anywhere, anytime,” he said.

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He added that the amendment will not affect the financial aspect of autonomy, but only the operational framework for capital projects.

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“What we are saying is that the amendment is not going to affect the financial aspect of it, but the operational side of it that it will affect. I don’t even want to say the capital,” he concluded.

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