Southwest Speakers Meet In Lagos, Discuss Region’s Progress

The Speakers of state legislatures in the southwestern part of Nigeria on Monday, gathered at the Lagos State House of Assembly for discussions.

Today’s meeting comes a few days after the Abuja meeting of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures in Nigeria where a national chairman is billed to emerge.

Present at the meeting, which was hosted by the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, include Taiwo Oluomo of Ogun, Adebo Ogundoyin of Oyo, Adeoye Aribasoye of Ekiti, Adewale Egbedun of Osun and Olamide Oladiji of Ondo.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, which was held behind closed doors, Obasa said that different issues relating to the growth and progress of southwest were discussed.

“We looked at the progress of the legislature in the Southwest. Let me remind you that during the last Assembly, we all adopted a single Business Rules and Standing Order, which we have reviewed at this meeting.

“We also discussed the coming election of the Conference of Speakers. We deliberated on that because we have to be there with one voice. We have two Speakers, Ogun and Oyo, running for the position. So we have to harmonise our position before we go for the election.

“We also discussed the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) as it relates to the economic progress and development of Southwest. I am happy to tell you we made tremendous progress in our discussion and we have concluded that we will meet again to continue our deliberation. But in all, we have discussed in the interest of the Southwest,” he said.

Also speaking on the discussions at the meeting, Aribasoye, said: “We met to discuss the Southwest, the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria, the coming election, the security of our zone, and the need for cross-fertilisation of ideas among the legislatures in the Southwest.”

Earlier, while being received at the legislative chamber of the Lagos Assembly, the speakers told the state lawmakers that their visit had opened their eyes to further directions they needed to take for the progress of their individual states.