The Oyo State House of Assembly on Tuesday passed the executive bills to establish four additional ministries in the state.
DAILY POST reports that the bills include; Ministry of Energy; Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry bill; Ministry of Public Works, Infrastructure and Transport Bill and Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion bill.
The bills, which were passed at the Tuesday’s plenary in Ibadan, the state capital, are said to be in line with intention of Governor Seyi Makinde to have a structural adjustment of the ministries to put the state on the path of posterity and upgrade its governance to a global practice.
While speaking on the introduction of Ministry of Energy, the Chairman of the House Committee and lawmaker representing Kajola State Constituency, Hon. Mustapha Olawale Akeem, noted that the ministry is aimed at developing capacity to attend to the power needs of residents and explore the state power creation potential.
According to him, the ministry will be charged with the responsibility of strategizing, promoting and developing sustainable policies for energy planning to ensure availability of reliable energy for all residents in Oyo State as well as making the State an investment destination, working on public private partnership to provide modalities for initiative within the energy sector.
He said, “As a state, we shall continue engagement with Federal Government of Nigeria, Ministry of Power and its agencies to align power reform policies and implementation through this ministry.”
Also speaking on the bills, the lawmaker representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju State constituency, Bamidele Adeola noted that the new ministries bills is to restructure the existing ones and adjust how their components are married.
According to him, the executive’s aim on the bills is to break out of the old norms, adding that if the ministries are properly handle, it will bring lot of change to Oyo State.
He said, “There are no new ministries, we can only call it a kind of reshuffle because the aim is to marry the right and suitable components together to form a ministries.
“For instance, the former ministry of agriculture and natural resources is proposed to become ministry of agriculture and rural development which we believe will make it more effective.
“We are just calling on the executive to ensure round pegs are placed in round holes, so that the strategy and efforts would not be seen as mere body exercise if there are no corresponding results.”
Speaker of the house, Adebo Ogundoyin declared that the lawmakers had dotted the ‘Is’ and cross the ‘Ts’ on the bills before been passed to ensure they serve their purposes.
“We have thoroughly reviewed the bills and we assure our people that the ministries will serve their intended purposes.”
