GOVERNOR Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto State Monday signed into law the N116 billion 2013 appropriation bill and three other bills saying that “all the laws are geared towards enhancing probity, accountability and effective public service delivery while consolidating the successes we have recorded in the last five years”.
The other bills are the establishment of Sokoto State bureau of Public Procurement and Price Intelligence; the state statistical system and Office of the statistician gGeneral and a bill for fisheries law in the state.
He stated that the State House of Assembly utilised the inputs of all stakeholders in the process of making the laws.
“In fact while at our level in the executive arm, we churned out proposals in tune with the yearnings and aspirations of our people on whose mandate we are operating as a government, the legislature also has a responsibility of sifting through such proposals, fine tuning them and making them absolutely favourable to the entire people of the state particularly those at the grassroots. Indeed, the mandate of both arms converges at the point of good governance”, the Governor explained.
He said that with the assenting of the 2013 appropriation bill, the respective ministries, departments and agencies in the state were now responsible for the effective implementation of the budget.
He therefore charged all public all public functionaries to carry out their responsibilities with the fear of God in the overall interest of the people of the state.
In his speech before presenting the bills to the Governor for his assent at the Government House council chambers, the Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Alhaji Lawali Muhammad Zayyana, said that the Assembly passed the 2013 budget “with slight amendments with a view to addressing certain anomalies as well as move resources inwards in order to accommodate some exigencies that arose”.
He said that all the bills originated from the Executive Arm of government and were passed in accordance with due process, adding that he had no doubt that the governor would “midwife the proper and effective implementation of these laws for the good governance of our state”.