RVHA Vows To Monitor LG CTCs

The Rivers State House of Assembly (RVHA) last week, held only one plenary session and public hearing, as well as an oversight function.
Last Tuesday, the House screened  and confirmed  nominees  for Caretaker Committees (CTC) for 10 Local Government Areas (LGAs)  and  also okayed the re-nomination of members for 13 other LGAs.
Those confirmed were  charged by the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon.  Ikninyi-Owaji Ibani, to be proactive in discharging their statutory duties as soon as they were sworn in by Rivers State Governor,  Nyesom  Ezenwo  Wike.
Ibani  reiterated the Assembly’s readinesss to monitor  the activities of CTC chairmen and members  of various LGAs as part of its over sight function in the state.
Also on Tuesday plenary session, the Assembly gave its nod to the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Service.
The Board chairman  confirmed was Mr. ThankGod Adoge Nortee from Gokana  LGA, while Mr Echward Mark  (Ahhoada West), Mr. Chibuzor Ahoorlu (Port Harcourt) and Sofiri Ezekiel-Hart (Bonny) were okayed as Board members.
The Board chairman designate, Mr. Nortee promised to create a tax  friendly atmosphere where all the tax payers would be relieved  of multiple taxation.
The speaker expressed happiness with the calibre of nominees for the Board, charging them to bring their wealth of experiences to bear on the revenue generation effort of  the state government to engender  development.
Also same Tuesday, the  Assembly  deliberated on a bill to repeal the  Rivers State Honours Awards law  2,000 and to re-enact the  Rivers State Honours Law 2017.
The bill was tendered  by the majority Leader of the House, Hon Martin Amaewhule  at the Assembly’s  plenarys session, and it was immediately passed for first reading at the floor of the House.
The bill entitled,  Rivers State  Honours Law, 2017, when passed into law, would provide the awards of the State Honours by Warrant made by the Governor of the State for matters connected  there to.
The bill stipulates that the Governor  of the  State might confer Sate  Honours in the name of the  government and people of the state to any indigene, body, unit, association, corporation or any person in the State.
On Wednesday, the House Committee on Education headed by the lawmaker representing  Degema Constituency, Hon. Farah Dagogo held public hearing to finally repeal and re-enact  the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) Law Cap 133 Law of the Rivers State of Nigeria 1999.
Speaker of the House,  Rt. Hon. Ikumyi-Owaji Ibani, represented by the majorty Leader of the House, Hon. Martin Amaewhule,  declared  the public hearing opened,  saying   the bill is an Executive Bill seeking to produce  the much needed result-oriented scientific and Technical  manpower for the  State.
The public Hearing was attended  by the  both  the management  of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) and  the  Ignatius Ajuru University of Education  (IAUE), representative  of the State Ministry of Justice  Mrs Florence Fiberesima, Students Union  Government of RSUST, ASUU, NANS handing among other stakeholders and  dignitaries across the state.
Same Wednesday, the Assembly Committee on Environment, led by its Chairman, Hon. Christian  Ahiakwo,  interacted  with the Nigerian  Security and Civil Defence Corps  (NSCDC) at the corps command office in Port Harcourt.
At the  session, Hon. Ahiakwo appealed  to the NSCDC to employ alternative  means of destroying illegal  refineries and products  instead of burning them as that was contributing to black soot currently  being experienced  in the state.
The committee Chairman  also suggested,  the option of handing over seized illegal petroleum  products to the Nigeria National Petroelum Corporation (NNPC) to proper refining  instead of destroying same.
The Rivers State commandant  of NSCDC, Mohammed  Lawal Haruma noted that  all illegally  refined products were adulterated  hence  it cannot in any way be  re-refined to lawful consumption in the country and the global  market.

Enoch Epelle