curator
Administrator
Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has appealed to the state house of assembly to pass all outstanding bills before it.
The Speaker of the House, Mr Adeyemi Ikuforiji, made the disclosure on Friday while speaking at the state 10th Executive/Legislative Parley in Lekki.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the parley had as its theme: ``Toward Perpetuating the Culture of Excellence".
Ikuforiji said the governor had inundated him with calls on the issue, and had asked him to initiate urgent steps to pass the bills.
The Speaker, who did not give the number of the bills, however, said that the house was making steady efforts to pass them.
"Yes, we are conscious of these outstanding bills even as we have passed some of them. The reason for the delay is that we are taking our time to deliberate on these bills. We know we are a legislative reference point in Nigeria, so we want to pass bills that will stand the test of time," he said.
Ikuforiji added that the house had, over the years, lived up to the constitutional expectation of making laws that have had positive impact on the lives of the people.
He pledged that the law makers would continue to work with the executive arm to ensure improved governance in the state.
In his remarks, Fashola said it was difficult to deliver the dividends of democracy without a virile legislature.
He, however, said that the state legislators had discharged their responsibilities in making laws that "are central to the development of the state".
"The state legislators have performed their duties with a lot of passion and courage and some of the results of their commitment we have seen in the state in form of development."
Fashola called on leaders to be responsible to their people by being accountable and offering selfless services.
He said acts like the use of sirens by political office holders suggested insensitive leadership and urged the National Assembly to enact a law banning the use of siren.
Also speaking, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Bola Tinubu, urged Nigerians to do all they could to protect the nation's democracy.
Represented by Mr Henry Ajomale, the Lagos APC Chairman, Tinubu further urged them to kick against rigging of elections.
He called on the electorate to ensure that their votes counted in elections by monitoring and protecting their votes against riggers.
Mr Taofeek Folami, the Special Adviser to Gov. Fashola on Legislative Bureau, said the parley was organised yearly, to enable the executive and legislature to brainstorm on issues of importance to the state.
Folami said that apart from serving as a platform on which ``quality policies are evolved, the parley also seek to further promote cordial relationship between two arms of government’’.
The special adviser described the state legislature as virile, saying that it had passed 28 bills and made 65 resolutions in six years.