Constitutional Amendments Will Birth Stronger Institutions – Kolapo Kola-Daisi

Constitutional Amendments Will Birth Stronger Institutions – Kolapo Kola-Daisi.

Oyo South Senatorial Aspirant, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress(APC), come 2023, Mr Kolapo Kola- Daisi has applauded law makers at the National Assembly on steps taken towards constitutional amendments. It would be recalled that earlier this week, the National Assembly voted on 68 constitution alteration bills which harped on reforming different sectors.

Kola-Daisi gave these remarks in a meeting with some of his political associates recently, where he harped on the need for citizens to monitor the activities of their lawmakers.

“ The consistency of the 9th assembly in making efforts to modify the 1999 constitution for the benefit of the society is laudable. I have keenly followed the activities especially on the most recent bills that were acted on earlier this week”

“Of particular interest to me were bills whose passage will strengthen our institutions, I noted a few:

An Act to establish Local Government Councils as a tier of government to guarantee their democratic existence, tenure and also to abrogate the State Joint LG Accounts.
A bill on the devolution of powers (National Grid System) to allow states generate, transmit and distribute electricity.
A Bill to delete prisons in Exclusive Legislative List and redesignate it as Correctional Services in Concurrent Legislative List for related matters.
A bill to Separate the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and of the State from the office of the Minister or Commissioner for Justice.
An act to provide Financial Autonomy of the State Legislatures and State Judiciary.
A Bill For An Act to alter provisions of Constitution to make free, compulsory and basic education a fundamental right of all citizens.
A Bill to provide special seats for women in the National and State Houses of Assembly and for related matters.
These bills and many more being acted upon by the National Assembly should be commended, although I understand that the bill for an act to provide special seats for women was voted against, but more efforts can be made regards that.” He said.

“ Local Government autonomy will have positive effects on governance, they are the closest to the people. The bill on the National Grid System is also a right step. Financial autonomy for state legislatures and judiciary is equally important, these are steps to building stronger institutions “

“We shouldn’t forget the role of the States House of Assembly. They also have the responsibility to make this effective. Constitutional amendment is not a one off assignment. It is a continuous political process. Our democracy is relatively nascent so we must keep encouraging amendments until we get the desired output”. He added.