Timely legislative engagement, crucial, panacea for democratic governance — Otong

• AKHA Speaker, Udeme Otong (m) with members of the 8th Assembly shortly after the workshop, on Monday

…as USAID partners AKHA on legislative oversight workshop

Nsikak Akpan

Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Udeme Otong, has stated that timely and frequent engagement of legislators is very critical, pivotal, crucial and would serve as a catalyst cum panacea needed to maintain, sustain and retain the principles of democracy in the ecosystem.

He charged Members of the 8th Assembly to take their Legislative Oversight Orientation Workshop as crucial and timely as the Citizens Engagement, Transparency and Accountability must be the standard and hallmark of Democratic Governance at all levels, said this can only be achieved through a strong and viable legislative arm of Government.

Speaker Otong who gave the charge at the opening ceremony of a two-day Workshop organised by United States Agency for International Development, (USAID) Nigeria, State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (States 2 States) Activity on Monday at Four Point Hotel by Sheraton at Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, stated that the Workshop is tailored to improve the knowledge and capacities in areas of budget oversight, projects evaluation and implementation programmes, performance appraisal and fiscal implementation monitoring.

“As already in public domain, the legislature has three cardinal roles; Law making, Representation and Oversight.

“This explains the reason the 8th Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly from its Inauguration in June, 2023, committed considerable energies and resources to oversight functions without leaving behind law making and representation, as none of these three supercedes the other”.

The Abak Lawmaker while thanking the USAID-Nigeria for putting the workshop in place and for choosing Akwa Ibom as one of the Six states of the Federation for the USAID Nigeria five years Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (States 2 states) Activity implementation, and encouraged Members to reshape and redefine the concept of effective representation through oversight functions.

Speaking earlier, the Akwa Ibom State Team Lead of USAID-Nigeria, Borve Paago-Imabel who thanked the Assembly Members for their victories at the polls during the 2023 General Elections and the House elections which birthed a new leadership in the House, called on legislators to be more focused on improving service delivery by giving the expectations of the citizens on the Assembly as the first port of representation of the people and added that if this is done, there will be an improvement in the allocation especially in Health and Education but however noted that with the allocation abysmally low, Government might not be able to touch on the core needs of the people.

“States 2 States activities is USAID’s flagship governance activity in Nigeria which is implemented in six States to include ; Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Gombe and Sokoto States. It is noted that Akwa Ibom signed up in March, 2021 which progressed into establishing the base line data about the political and economic structure of the State as well as critically the Public Finance Management ecosystem of the state and the structure that are working to sustain physical discipline in the State”, he disclosed.

The State Team Lead expressed the gratitude of States 2 States to the Government of Akwa Ibom State for its support in allowing the project to be implemented in the state and for meeting up the eligibility criteria for the project in the state.

In their separate goodwill messages, the State Team Lead, Breakthrough Action Nigeria, Dr. Bassey Nsa, State Team Lead, Presidential Malaria Initiative, Dr. Ime Akpan and USAID Consultant, Akwa Ibom State Rural Access Roads Agency, Mr. Ndianabasi Udom commended USAID-Nigeria for bringing the programme to the State and thanked the State Lawmakers for graciously accepting to be a part of the training.

They expressed the belief that at the end of the workshop, a new course will be charted that will reshape and redefine effective representation through oversight functions.

Topics to be taken during the technical session include: Role of Legislators in Sustaining reforms : The ARISE Agenda in perspective, Akwa Ibom State Service Delivery (Health Sector- TB Programming) Update, Akwa Ibom State Service Delivery (Health Sector – Programming) update