The Chairman, House Committee on Health of Plateau State House of Assembly, Mr Nanbol Daniel, has solicited an increase in the number of the state lawmakers from 24 members to 40 members.
Daniel, representing PDP/Langtang North Central, made the suggestion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Jos.He said that the current members representing the 24 constituencies in the state were inadequate to effectively represent the growing population.The lawmaker told NAN that this was affecting the quality of laws, as members were usually involved in too many activities at the same time.
The committee chairman stated that legislators, mostly had a conflict of time as a result of inadequate number of members.“If an executive bill is committed to your committee, and another committee wants to work on a bill that you are supposed to be part of, it becomes a challenge. “Some of these bills may be required in order to meet up with United Nations or World Bank demands.“
To solve this issue of time, it is good that we should advocate for more members, using the population, and data that we have to upgrade the number of assembly members to, probably, 40 members.“How can 24 people effectively represent almost five million people?” he asked.Daniel also suggested that the number could be increased to 30 members and could be reviewed later to 40 members.He, nonetheless, observed that it might be difficult in terms of funds, but it is still possible if there is the will power to do it.“
If the state would drive its internally generated revenue and block the leakages, it would sufficiently cater for the additional members without bothering the federal government for an increase in allocation,” he said.He further said that such an increase was also necessary for local government legislatures, as well as the National Assembly. (NAN)
