For nine hours, selected lawmakers of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly led by the Speaker, Rt.Hon (Elder) Samuel Ikon journeyed from the heart of Niger Delta towards the north where they stopped at Benue state to interact with their Benue State counterpart on a working visit.
The visit was part of activities covered by the House committee on Inter-Parliamentary matters where the speaker sits as the chairman. As part of activities permitted by the House Standing Order, the committee is expected to visit other state houses of assembly in the country where they are expected to meet minds together, compare notes and learn from each other the rudiment of law making especially at the state level.
In line with the above, the delegation from Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly that visited Benue state include the Majority Leader, Rt. Hon Okpolupm Etteh, the Deputy Chief Whip Rt.Hon Emmanuel Akpan, the House Committee Chairman on Rules, Business and Ethics Hon (Barr) Ime Okon and the House Committee Chairman on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon Aboh Udoyok.
Explaining the essence of their visit to the Speaker and 30 members of the Benue State House of Assembly during an executive session before Tuesday (18/02/2014) plenary, the Akwa Ibom State Speaker, Elder Samuel Ikon said apart from the fact that as state parliamentarian there was need for an interface to help lawmakers across states to know each, the visit most importantly will also help the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly which is currently reviewing its standing orders compare notes with its Benue State counterpart.
Elder Ikon used the opportunity to inform his host that as the peoples parliament, the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly have passed a number of Bills bothering on the welfare of the people into Law stressing that all the Bills passed into Law had the contributions and input from members of the society through public hearing.
During interaction, the Majority Leader of the Benue State House of Assembly Hon Paul Biam raised a very important issue bothering on the financial autonomy of the state legislature which he wanted the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Speaker whom he described as a vibrant member of the Speaker’s Forum in Nigeria to take it up with the National Assembly Joint Committee on the review of the 1999 constitution to effect especially now the process is ongoing.
According to him, the lack of financial autonomy has crippled the activities of the various Houses of Assembly across the country. Although he commended the Akwa Ibom State Governor Chief Godswill Akpabio for giving the legislature the free hand to run as noticed in the holding of public hearings and participation in the Commonwealth parliament, the same was not the case for Benue Lawmakers who are yet to attend the commonwealth parliament nor hold public hearing even when the desire to do so is very strong.
During the interactive session which was presided over by the Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, Hon (Barr) Emmanuel Terhile Ayua, members of the two Houses of Assembly agreed that there was need for lawmakers to do more than a single term as that is the only way experience in the business of lawmaking could be widen. At the end of an exhaustive deliberation, the Akwa Ibom State delegation was led to the red chamber of the Benue State House of Assembly where they witnessed a thorough deliberation on the menace of invading Fulani nomads into Benue State.
After a long day at the Assembly, the visiting lawmakers were treated to a get together/dinner night by their host where the Benue State cultural group entertained with traditional cultural display of the Benue people some of which included the popular cat dance and marmywater. High point of the night was the decoration of the Akwa Ibom Speaker and members of his entourage with the Tiv traditional artier.
It is worthy of note that back home, state legislators were full of praises for the speaker’s innovation in establishing such a cross border relationship. According to Rt.Hon Ekong Sampson, such idea to visit another State House of Assembly has never happened in his seven years as a lawmaker.
On her part while deliberating on the report of the visit of AKHA members to Benue state, Rt.Hon Ekaete Ebong Okon called for similar visit to be extended to other states especially states especially in the western part of the country.
On a whole, the visit was quite rewarding as it granted members from Akwa Ibom that opportunity to interact and compare notes with their counterpart. Elder Samuel Ikon deserves a pat on the back for introducing such a refreshing experience into the business of lawmaking and for creating the opportunity for Akwa Ibom lawmakers to meet an interact with their counterparts elsewhere in the country. Like Barr Ekong Sampson noted during plenary, it has never happened in the history of Akwa Ibom legislature.
Otobong Nsekpong is the Press Secretary to the Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly
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