Date: 2017-01-26

The Kwara State House of Assembly yesterday declared that all overdue accounts of the state must be audited and presented to the legislature by March this year.

This, according to the Speaker, Dr. Ali Ahmad, was to make governance more transparent and provide access to all necessary information.

Ahmad, who stated this at the resumption of plenary from end of year recess, said it was imperative to continue to raise the bar of good governance in the state. He, however, assured the people that the state legislature would focus attention on the 2017 budget proposal to ensure early passage.

The speaker said: "We will make governance even more transparent by providing access to all necessary information. We must continue to raise the bar of good governance in the state. In this regard, all overdue accounts of the state must be audited and presented by the appropriate authority within the first quarter of this year.

"On our part, salient features of this year's budget will be circulated and placed on our website for easy access and comments by the public on sectoral allocations before passage.

"The first few weeks of this session will be dedicated to the budget process to ensure that the 2017 Appropriation Bill is passed into law expeditiously."

Meanwhile, the speaker has said the assembly would deploy appropriate legislative instrument for the overhauling of the state town planning laws, which he said, earlier permitted indiscriminate construction of filling stations and shops.

"Other priority legislative interventions shall include working with the executive to overhaul our town planning laws, which hitherto permitted construction of petrol stations inside family compounds and erection of shops in any available landscape.

"We will also take serious interest in improving on our laws to encourage government patronage of local contractors, suppliers and other service providers within the state," Ahmad said.