The member representing Esan West/Esan Central/Igueben Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Marcus Onobun, has urged lawmakers in Edo State House of Assembly to reject a bill seeking to repeal the House of Assembly and Judiciary Financial Autonomy Law in Edo State.
He said it was during the administration of former Governor Godwin Obaseki that Edo Assembly domesticated Section 121(3) of the 1999 Constitution, guaranteeing financial independence for state legislatures and judiciaries.
The former Edo Assembly Speaker, in a statement, said: ”No state action should now seek to reverse this democratic progress.’
He said the move to repeal the Financial Autonomy Laws contravened the fundamental principle of the separation of powers.
Onobun noted that a robust democracy relied on three co-equal branches.
He said: ‘Stripping the legislature of its financial autonomy destroys this vital system of checks and balances. A financially dependent parliament risks becoming a mere appendage of the executive, severely limiting its capacity for strict accountability, oversight and effective representation.
‘As a former Speaker, I urge the House to reject this proposal and protect its institutional integrity. Financial autonomy is a constitutional mandate, not a political privilege. Our democracy thrives best when the legislature remains truly independent.’
But Speaker of Edo Assembly, Yekini Idiaye, said the laws were not to be repealed but amended to strengthen project monitoring.
He said the House was not reversing the autonomy.
‘We are not reversing the autonomy. We are all beneficiary of the autonomy. The proposed amendment is focused on the capital project aspect of autonomy.
‘What we are trying to do, we are looking at the capital side of it, like the project. Some persons discovered that most projects are not executed.
‘So for us to have a good understanding of the purpose for which we got the autonomy, especially on the side of the project party… what we are thinking is that we want to create a form of an agency,’ he added.
Idiaye said the agency would be responsible for monitoring release of funds, execution and supervision of capital projects for both arms.
‘That all projects will be passing through that agency. They will be monitoring. As it is now, there is no proper monitoring.
‘So we want to have an agency that we want to amend. So that they will be the one monitoring the release of funds, the execution, the supervision. And when you finish, you bring your certificate, take it to the agency.
‘What we are saying is that the amendment is not going to affect the financial aspect of it. It is the operational side of it that it will affect. I don’t even want to say the capital,’ he concluded.