30th August, 2016
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon, GOS, has faulted the call in some quarters for part-time legislature in the country, saying it was unconstitutional.
Solomon spoke in an interview with journalists at the Annual Public Lecture/Book presentation event organized by the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Lagos Information Chapel.
The ex-lawmaker, who represented Lagos West Senatorial District between 2007 and 2015 in the Nigerian Senate, stated that part-time legislature would run at variance with the structure of democracy being practiced in Nigeria.
Speaking on the theme of the event which is “All Inclusive Government: Lagos State in Perspective;” GOS said the incumbent administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode had touched all aspects that concern the people.
Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University, Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun who was the Guest Speaker at the Annual Public Lecture, identified transparent governance, access to information, policy collaboration and participatory budgeting as frontiers for inclusive governance.
He said the concept of inclusive governance was not sufficiently understood within the public services, either at the national level, within the civil service or the local level within the public service providers.
According to him, effective implementation of inclusive governance called for competent structures at the political, bureaucratic and professional level, adding that there were, however, deep-rooted, structural challenges and gaps, weak political institutions, among others, all of which undermined efforts to promote and implement interventions aimed at inclusion.
“There is lack of a comprehensive legal framework guiding the systems and procedures of inclusive governance, an absence of socially disaggregated information system, weak monitoring and evaluation system, lack of research and independent surveys, weak coordination and harmonization mechanism, all of which have continued to exacerbate gaps in the realization of inclusive governance.
“There are critical challenges involved in gathering relevant information and developing standard models and tools to measure social impacts, quantify the qualitative impacts and tackle the lack of adequate skills and resources within government ministries,” he stated.
Fagbohun said the challenges enumerated had in different ways impacted on the attempt at mainstreaming the process of inclusive governance.
The LASU VC, who praised Ambode for embracing inclusive government in delivering the dividends of democracy to the people, said the move had enhanced effectiveness in service delivery of public services across the state.
He also commended the initiatives of the Lagos State Governor in the areas of stakeholder engagement, quarterly town hall meeting and the Offices of Civic Engagement and Disability Affairs.
Lagos State Commissioner Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde commended the NUJ Information Chapel for the intellectually motivated initiative that brought to the fore, a catalogue of the myriads of achievements of the state government.
Chairman, NUJ, Lagos Information Chapel, Adeola Ashiru said the annual lecture was strategic for discussing and drawing insight on vital issues and proffering solutions to them.