The Akwa Ibom House of Assembly is set to proffer solution to persistent wastes that some days dot many parts of Uyo, the state capital including local government headquarters and villages in the state.
Realising the enormity of the wastes, the newly inaugurated chairman of the state Waste Mangement Committee, Akpan Ikim and his team swung into action during the weekend, mopping up and clearing the wastes from some parts of the state municipality.
To this end, Akwa Ibom House of Assembly Bill No. 206, (HAB 206) entitled: The Environmental Protection and Waste Management Law 2000(Amendment) Bill, 2017 has caled through a second reading.
Sponsored by Usoro Akpanusoh (Esit Eket/Ibeno), the bill seeks to strengthen effective waste management and proper protection of the environment.
The House referred the bill to the House Committee on Environment for further legislative scrutiny.
Also during plenary, the House gave the State Auditor General two weeks to submit the audited report of the state government for 2017 financial year to the state legislature.
The resolution was passed, Tuesday following a matter of urgent public importance raised by Friday Iwok, the Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, who drew the attention of the Speaker to the non-submission of the audited accounts of the state government for the year, 2017 by the Auditor-General of the state as required by law.
Citing Section 125 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to back his submission, the Abak State Constituency representative informed the House that despite several requests made by his committee to the office of the state Auditor-General to furnish his committee with the audited report of the state government for 2017, the Auditor- General has failed to submit the report to the legislature.
Reacting to the matter, members of the House including, Aniekan Uko (Ibesikpo Asutan) and Mark Esset (Nsit-Atai), frowned at the attitude of the Auditor-General, and asked the legislature to take punitive measures against him for his action.
Esset said “what bothers me is that all efforts made by the committee to have the financial report submitted to the House of Assembly failed to yield the needed result. This shows lack of commitment on the part of the Auditor-General. There should be some punitive measures that this house must recommend.”
In his argument, Aniekan Uko submitted “The Auditor-General of the state should be invited to appear before the floor of this House of Assembly to tell us why we must always remind him to submit the audited report of the state government to the House of Assembly.”
The House Leader, Sir Udo Kierian Akpan pleaded with the House to give the Auditor- General the last opportunity to submit the report with a time frame.
Announcing the resolution of the House, Onofiok Luke, the speaker commended Friday Iwok for the steps he had taken to draw the attention of the Auditor-General to his responsibilities, and directed the state Accountant-General to do the needful by handing the audited report to the Auditor-General (if he hasn’t done so) to enable him submit same to the legislature as requested.
Luke directed “The Auditor General should do the needful by submitting the audited report of the state government to this House within two weeks.”
Meanwhile, the House has received the report of the committee on Special Projects, Monitoring and Implementation on Akwa Ibom State Utility Infrastructure Management and Control Agency Bill, 2017. Action on the bill was however deferred to the next legislative date.
The House has proceeded on a short break to resume on October 11, 2018.
