LRC/Lagos Assembly no friction

By Lanre Adesanya

Lagos State House of Assembly have debunked the allegations that there is an overlap between Law Reform Commission (LRC) and the State Assembly.

Hon. Adefunmilayo Tejuoso representing Mushin Constituency I who  brought the matter to the floor of the House stated that there have been rumours that the LRC is performing the Assembly’s duties  This insinuation emanated shortly after the presentation of Y2017 budget presentation.

In her submission at today’s plenary, the lawmaker said that  there is need to clarify the duties of the LRC  which does not include lawmaking therefore   there is need to implore members of the public  to be careful of misguided statements that could  lead to dispute or misinformation.

Contributing, Hon. Segun Olulade suggested that there is need to sensitize the public by enlightening  them on the roles, duties and functions of both the Legislature and the Executive because members of the public are being misinformed about those duties.

Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa in a remark gave  the clarification,  stating that the Law Reform Commission does not make laws but review and work on laws passed by the Assembly. “It’s surprising to see that it’s trending on social media that the Lagos Assembly is giving its duties to the LRC”.

He further highlighted  the functions of the  legislature to include  among others Lawmaking; Oversight functions; Passing of bills while the duties of the LRC is solely to review old laws that was passed by the House”.He enjoined  the public to note and demarcate the duties of the institution.

In another development, the Members passed a motion for an urgent re-constitution of dissolved boards of parastatals and Agencies of Government in the State.

Hon. Moshood Oshun who moved the motion notes that the State Government circular Ref. No. CIR/HOS/15/VOL.1061 dated 17^th June, 2015 informed the approval of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on the dissolution of Boards of some Parastatals and Agencies of Government with immediate effect.

The House according to him further notes  that since their dissolution in 2015, new Boards have not been re-constituted for the Agencies to replace the dissolved ones which have affected the functions of the Agencies as stipulated in the extant laws establishing these bodies.

To this end, the House resolved to call on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to as a matter of urgency consider re-constitution of the Boards of affected Parastatals and Agencies in conformity to the extant Laws of the State.