The Rivers State House of Assembly on Monday bypassed the assent of Governor Siminialayi Fubara to okay the State Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill 2024 as a law.
The Assembly said it took the decision on Monday after Fubara withheld his assent to the passed bill.
Last month, the Assembly vetoed the governor and enacted an amendment to the state-local government law.
Martins Wachukwu, media aide to Speaker Martin Amaewhule quoted his boss as saying that the new law would protect taxpayers’ money from being spent frivolously on twisted contracts.
Amaewhule, according to Wachukwu, bemoaned what he described as a situation where due process was relegated to the background, contracts awarded without legal backing, and the state governed dictatorially.
The speaker added that despite all perceived malfeasance, the House would continue to uphold the laws of the state and the 1999 Constitution.
He warned that if the governor continued in such a manner, the House would at the appropriate time take more stringent measures against him.
He said the Assembly would not stand aloof and watch the governor continue to breach the laws of the state.
Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Local Government, Ignatius Onwuka, presented a preliminary Report on a petition by two Local Government chairmen.
He lamented the agony of workers of Emohua Council, whom he claimed, had not been paid salary for two months.
The Assembly also gave the First Reading of the State Electricity Market Bill, 2024, sponsored by the Speaker.
“It is a bill for a Law to Repeal the Rivers State Electricity and Gas Board Law CAP 50, Laws of Rivers State,1999; and to enact the Rivers State Electricity Market Law to Provide for Electricity Supply, its Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution within Rivers State, to Establish the Rivers State Electricity Commission for the enforcement of Consumers’ Right and Obligation and connected purposes,” the statement said.
