From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
The Rivers State House of Assembly, on Monday, at its 173th Legislative Sitting, has overridden the assent of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, to pass the Rivers State Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill, 2024 into Law.
The House said it took the decision to override the governor after he withheld his assent.
It would be recalled that the House passed the Rivers State Public Procurement (Amendment)Bill, 2024, on March 26, 2024 and transmitted same to the governor for assent, which the governor allegedly declined.
Remarking on the Bill which was represented by the Majority Leader, Major Jack and debated upon by members, the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, reiterated the essence of the Bill, which is to secure taxpayers’ money and to ensure that taxpayers’ money are not spent on frivolities and twisted contracts.
Amaewhule bemoaned a situation where due process is relegated to the background, contracts awarded without legal backing and the State being governed in a dictatorial panache.
The Speaker added that despite all the malfeasance, the House will continue to uphold the Laws of Rivers State and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as altered.
He stressed that if the continues in this manner, the House would at the appropriate time take more stringent measures, because according to him, the House cannot stand aloof and watch the governor continue to breach the Laws of the State in a tyrannical manner.
Thereafter, the House in accordance with the provisions of Section 100 (5)of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as altered, voted, and with a two-third majority votes passed the Bill into Law.
In another development, the Chairman of the House Committee on Local Government, Ignatius Onwuka, presented a preliminary report on the petition by two local government chairmen, wherein he stated the agony of staff of Emohua Local Government Council, who, he said, have not been paid salary for two months on the directive of the acting Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission to those responsible for signing requisite documents.
Onwuka described the so-called acting Chairman as an imposter, stressing that such position is not known to law in the State.
Commenting on the report, the Speaker, Amaewhule, condemned in unequivocal terms the recalcitrance of the official
who parades himself as the acting Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, adding that it was the result of administrative lawlessness being encourage by the government.
The Speaker emphasized that the House would not fold its arms and see staff of Emohua Local Government Council to suffer, and, therefore, resolved to mandate the Committee to again invite the Commission’s Secretary, and where he fails to appear before the Committee, the House will invoke its powers by issuing warrant of arrest.
Also on Monday, the House gave First Reading to the Rivers State Electricity Market Bill, 2024, sponsored by the Speaker, Amaewhule.
The speaker said it is a Bill for a Law to repeal the Rivers State Electricity and Gas Board Law CAP 50, Laws of Rivers State,1999; and to enact the Rivers State Electricity Market Law to Provide for Electricity Supply, its Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution within Rivers State, to Establish the Rivers State Electricity Commission for the enforcement of Consumers’ Right and Obligation and for connected purposes.
Similarly, the Rivers State Local Government (Consolidation) Bill, 2024 was presented by the Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol, and read the first time.
The bill seeks to consolidate all the Local Government Laws in the State for ease of reference.