Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly have called on the need to set aside a separate account for donation funds for Covid-19 and the approval of the Amotekun Corps Commander are properly scrutinized by the House after the appointment by the Governor.
Both were discussed at the Committee of the Whole on Thursday during the presentation of the observations on Corona-virus Pandemic Emergency Law, 2020 and the Neighbourhood Watch Law, 2020 sent to the House from the Office of Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice from Mr. Governor.
It was also agreed upon that there was need for a Co- Chairman in the Coronavirus Pandemic Incident Committee that Mr. Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu as Chairman can delegate to when the House summons him for a report on how the funds is been expended.
Hon. Setonji David, while concurring to the recommendations of the House noted that it must be mindful of the essence of democracy when performing its functions to ensure that the Constitution is upheld and the Executive is subject to the House.
In his view, Hon. Adedamola Kasunmu emphasized that the Executive should take into cognizance accountability and necessitated that funds donated in the cause of the Corona-virus pandemic are backed up by the Constitution.
Hon. Olayiwola Abdul-Sobur maintained that the donations and grants accrued to the State Government on behalf of the pandemic raised and received from corporate, individual and religious bodies should be domiciled in the Consolidated Revenue Funds (CRF) and the Executive must be reminded that no money should be withdrawn from any public funds without the authorization of the House.
“There should be transparency and trustworthiness on the part of the Executive and they should be mindful of the funds which are donations and grants that are not budgeted for.” He said.
On the Amotekun Law aforementioned, the House adopted the recommendations of the report of the House Committee on Information, Strategy & Security as regards the observations on the recently passed Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency (Amendment) Law, 2020.
In line with Hon. Adedamola Kasunmu’s submission that the issues bordering on security matters should be given prominence to; Hon. Rotimi Olowo purported that House adopts the recommendations of the Committee.
It would be recalled that the Clerk of the House, Mr. Azeez Sanni on Monday, May 4th, 2020 announced the receipt of letters from the Office of Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, who wrote on behalf of the Governor and urged the House to consider the stated observations and effect amendments in the highlighted sections.
In both bill, Mr. Speaker, Rt. Hon (Dr.) Mudashiru Obasa committed the observations raised in the letters to Committees on Health chaired by Hon. Abdul-Hakeem Sokunle and Information, Strategy & Security chaired by Hon. Tunde Braimoh respectively.
