The Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), an anti-corruption Civil Society Organisation, has commended the 9th Kwara House of Assembly (KWHA) for prompt passage of bills.
The group also lauded the legislature for giving priority to executive bills.
This is part of the #KwaraBillsTracker report released by the organisation’s Coordinator, Dr Abdullateef Alagbonsi, on Tuesday in Ilorin.
ENetSuD promotes good governance, transparency and accountability.
It however noted that the legislators have prioritised the bills that emanated from the executive arm of government more than those that emanated from themselves or private member sponsored bills.
Citing examples, the CSO noted that the Public Procurement Agency (Amendment) Bill was passed within two days, while the revised 2020 budget was passed within four days they were received from the governor.
The 2019 to 2021 budgets were passed within 37 to 50 days, while the Social Investment Programme and Repeal of Governors’ Pension Law bills were passed within 56 and 69 days, respectively, it noted.
On the contrary, the bills initiated by the lawmakers as private member bills took consistently longer time than the executive bills.
For instance, the SUBEB amendment bill was passed within 77 days, which was the fastest among lawmaker-initiated bills during the two years.
Other bills like the Local Government amendment, Teaching Service Commission amendment and Kwara State University amendment bills were passed within 83 days.
Overall, the bill that took the longest time to be passed was the Residents Registration bill, which took up to 119 days despite being an executive bill, it stated.
ENetSuD however noted that inputs of stakeholders at the public hearing possibly led to the delay in the passage of this bill. (NAN)
