Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El Rufai has sent a bill seeking financial autonomy of the legislative arm of government to the State House of Assembly.
The executive bill, the governor said, was to enable the legislative arm to function more effectively, having suffered from long years of military rule.
El-Rufai made this known at the ongoing 8th edition of the National and State Assembly Service Commission conference in Kaduna on Wednesday.
According to the governor, the nation’s democracy must be preserved and developed.
El-Rufai said: “We must preserve our democracy, work consciously to develop it. And part of that development is granting it financial autonomy, we fully support it. Even before these bills.
“Kaduna state House of Assembly will tell you that we have great respect for their financial autonomy and solvency.
“Granting of financial autonomy to state Houses of Assembly, a welcome development across the country. Our bill is going to the house today and I hope it will be passed very quickly so that we can put in place the necessary framework as soon as possible.
“Governments must develop the legislature and we can only do that through better funding and sharing of ideas like this conference will enable all the state assembly service commissions to come and brainstorm and come up with better ways to support the legislation.
“So, I call on my colleagues – governors – not to be scared of anything but to do what is right and things will work better in the interest of everyone. We are elected to serve the public and not to protect our personal interests.”
