The Kwara House of Assembly on Tuesday directed its Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to convene a forum to discuss how to tackle abuse of issuance of local government certificate of origin.

The directive was part of the resolution which followed the adoption of a motion on notice moved by Abdulrafiu Abdulrahman who represents Ilorin North West Constituency.

Abdulrahman, in his submission, noted with displeasure that due to limited opportunities, many non-indigenes of the state had chosen to illegally acquire the citizenship certificates of Kwara.

This, he said, had been depriving many indigenes of the state their rightful position in terms of admission into schools and job opportunities. Abdulrahman said the atrocities and manipulation which occur through forgery and illegal possession of the state's citizenship certificate were in contravention of existing laws.

He called for more involvement of traditional rulers and community leaders in the process of issuing citizenship certificates to check abuse. Contributing to the motion, the Leader of the House, Hassan Oyeleke, urged the state government to establish a central body that would be saddled with the responsibility of issuing citizenship certificate.

Other members, who contributed to the debate, emphasised the need for stringent measures to be put in place to check the illegality. They called for the establishment of a central data system where citizenship certificate could be verified anywhere in the world.

The Deputy Speaker, Mathew Okedare, who presided over Tuesday's plenary, expressed worry that many innocent Kwarans had been suffering from the illegal acts of non-indigenes. He directed the house committee to embark on further legislative action and report back to the assembly on April 12. (NAN)