Anambra Assembly Unveils Legislative Agenda
By Ebuka Onyekwelu
The Anambra State 7th House of Assembly today, unveiled its Legislative Agenda, following the submission of report by a 4 man committee set up by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Uche Okafor, to come up with a legislative agenda for the Assembly. Members of the committee include, Hon. Pharm. Nnamdi Okafor, the member representing Awka South constituency 1, Majority Leader of the House and Chairman of the committee. Hon. Barr. Douglas Egbuna, the member representing Onitsha North 1 as member, Hon. Nonso Okafor, the member representing Nnewi North constituency as member, while Mr. Pius Udoh, the Clerk of the House served as the Secretary of the committee.
The committee set up days after the inauguration of the 7th House of Assembly of Anambra state, developed a vision statement, mission statement, the general principles upon which the Assembly will discharge its responsibilities and finally outlined a clear cut legislative agenda. This will be the first time the House is putting in black and white, a statement of purpose and operational guideline to channel its activities towards actualizing set out agenda, through established ethos, rooted in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
For the 7th Assembly of Anambra state, the vision is “to be the best state legislature in Nigeria, championing the interest of the people of Anambra state through effective, accountable, independent and responsible representation”. While the mission reads, “to effectively represent ndi Anambra, enact quality laws and ensure judicious use of state resources in order to promote the wellbeing of the people”. This vision and mission is expected to be attained through the following principles; “responding to the genuine demands of the people”, “promoting transparency and accountability in the way the House conducts its activities”, “fostering positive relationship and collaboration with Civil Society Organisations” and finally, “working towards the establishment of e-parliament…”
Some of the outlined legislative agenda of the Assembly include; institutionalization of the conduct of public hearing as a major part of law making, Development of clear legislative tools and mechanism for performing oversight function, Strengthen mechanism for tracking and ensuring respect for, and implementation of House Resolutions, Commit to harmonious but mutually respectful relationship with the Executive, Work towards establishing a functional Legislative Budget and Research Office, for proper analysis of budget, Commit to robust relationship between House of Assembly and Development Partners, Civil Society Organisations, the media, as well as different professional bodies…, among other set agenda.
The five paged document signed by all four members of the committee also provided modalities for achieving the set agenda for the 7th Assembly of Anambra state.
With this development, it is clear that the Anambra state House of Assembly is ready to conduct its activities within recognizable standard best practice as a modern government institution. There is therefore no gainsaying that the people of Anambra state will be the greatest beneficiaries of a purposeful and vision driven House of Assembly.