Speakers of the Osun House of Assembly, Honourable Najeem Salaam and his Kwara State counterpart, Ama­du Alli have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the amend­ment of the law seeking autonomy for State Hous­es of Assembly.

They said it is the only way the legislature at the state level can perform their legislative duties ef­fectively and without fear or favour.

The duo spoke on Wednesday at the end of a three-day summit for mem­bers of Kwara Assembly, held in Ede, Osun State.

Salaam said leaving the legislative arm of government at the mercy of the executive negates the principles of separa­tions of powers and had always hindered lawmak­ing businesses at various state assemblies.

"It is important for us to be independent for us to be able to perform our duties effectively, or else, all these efforts will be just theoretical.

Describing separa­tion of power as the cor­nerstone of democratic system, Salam said the amendment being sought promises the protection of rights and liberty of the citizens.

He affirmed that prin­ciple of power stop power in autonomy by scholars century ago will deepen democracy if fully adopt­ed in the 21st century.

'Living at the mercy of the executives for the wel­fare of its members and operations is not in the best interest of democra­cy, autonomy at long and short run is a win-win situation'

Salaam also clamoured for bottom up approach in the formation and imple­mentation of government policy especially budget preparation stressing that lawmakers being elective representatives knows where the shoe pinches most in their re­spective constituency

Also, the Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Amadu Alli said the legislature can­not function efficiently without being autono­mous, saying, it is in it­self a contradiction for a supposedly independent arm of government to be clamoring for autonomy.

He said, autonomy will prevent the tyranny of any arm of government as the legislature would be fully disposed to de­liver on its mandate.

"Autonomy will pre­vent justice from becom­ing arbitrary and capri­cious, Without autonomy, there will be apprehen­sion, even abuse cannot be ruled out".

Ali said efforts were being made at the level of Conference of Speak­ers to ensure that states houses of assembly se­cured autonomy to the legislative arm of gov­ernment.