Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, has received accolades from the House of Assembly for granting financial autonomy to the legislative arm of government in the state.
The Deputy Speaker, Amara Iwuanyanwu, who disclosed this at the floor of the house, yesterday, also urged his colleagues to appreciate the governor for granting the autonomy.
His words, “Our governor has never hidden his commitment to encourage smooth running of the legislature as well as ensuring general welfare of the lawmakers and assembly staff in the state; hence the autonomy.”
Iwuanyanwu said that even before the pronouncement, the assembly had been enjoying over 80 per cent financial autonomy since Uzodimma assumed office as governor.
Chiji Collins (Isiala Mbano), Okechukwu Onyekamma (Mbaitoli), Johnson Duru (Ideato South), Obinna Okwara (Nkwerre), Chigozie Nwaneri (Oru East), among other lawmakers, supported the motion, stressing that it would help to deepen democracy, ensure effective representation and enhance service delivery.
The Imo lawmakers lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the full implementation of the assembly’s financial autonomy.
After deliberations on the motion, which enjoyed majority support, the house urged the governor to direct the state’s accountant-general to ensure that the funds for the legislature, including that of the commission, were paid in promptly into the assembly’s account for prompt disbursement as soon as the state receives its monthly allocation.
Only last week, the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria and the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria called off their over two months old industrial action, which they embarked on to protest against non-implementation of financial autonomy for the legislative and judicial arms of government as prescribed under Section 121 (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Executive Order No. 10 of 2020.
