By Ayodele Oni
Towing the way of Speakers of Houses of Assembly in the South-west, Majority Leaders of the Assembly drawn from the six States met in Akure, the Ondo State capital to brainstorm on the development of Legislative Reform Agenda for the geopolitical zone with a view to harnessing legislative practices.
Under the umbrella of the South-West Legislative Reform Implementation Committee (SLRIC), the leaders elected the Majority Leader of the Ondo state House of Assembly, Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi, as the new Chairman.
Ogunmolasuyi, who will lead the group till 2027, represents Owo Constituency-one. He was unanimously elected to take over from the outgone Chairman of SLRIC and immediate past Majority leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Oyeniran Agunbiade.
Handing over the mantle of leadership to Ogunmolasuyi, the former Lagos Majority leader, said the forum had recorded a lot of successes since it was formed some years ago to champion legislative stability in the southwest.
Agunbiade noted that the Forum ensured harmonized House Rules for all the six houses of assembly in the zone, adding that same is being copied nationally.
In an acceptance speech, the new Chairman of the South-West Legislative Reform Implementation Committee and Majority Leader of the Ondo state House of Assembly, Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi said the SLRIC will continue to serve as a rally point for all Southwest majority leaders in order to enhance their various regional integration.
According to him, the Akure meeting will lay the foundation upon which the new Houses of Assembly will build on in the zone and it is expected of the majority leaders in the South-West region to encourage their co-lawmakers to contribute immensely to the development of their constituents.
Ogunmolasuyi, promised that the Forum under his leadership will strive to do better than the past and ensure that objectives which it stands for shall be uphold.
“Not only that we shall also ensure that the platforms which will better the lot of South West Houses of Assembly are created thereby making us the cynosure of eyes amongst all the regions in Nigeria.
“We have achieved success on our mandate, we are mandated to champion legislative reform and ensure its implementation in the Southwest. We have achieved brotherhood among majority leaders in the Southwest, we have achieved cordiality.
“We are striving to ensure that all legislators in Southwest come together to know ourselves better, to interact and know the area of interest that will benefit individuals, as well as create harmonious relationship among all the houses in the southwest.
“We have done cross learning programmes, in some critical areas of oversights, budgeting. We have championed the harmonization of rules of the Southwest where the major provision that are in consonance with best legislative practices are extracted from all the rules of each of the Houses of Assembly are being put together.
“We make sure that the Houses also follow the procedure outlined in the rules. We went round the state to attend plenary and see how the rules are being used.
“We have been able to encourage other zones in the country to harmonize their rules. We are in the process of making sure that the database for all legislators in the Southwest and to come together and interact.”
Declaring the inaugural meeting open, the Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji, who spoke through the Deputy Speaker, Abayomi Akinruntan said; “I will like to state that the committee should ensure that a platform be created for effective service delivery as regards oversight which will, enhance the level of legislative compliance among the Southwest Houses of Assembly.
