Enugu assembly launches website, budget office

The site is www.enugustatehoa.gov.ng

The Enugu State House of Assembly on Tuesday inaugurated its website and the Legislative Budget Office (LBO) at its complex in Enugu.

Performing the ceremony, the Speaker of the assembly, Eugene Odo, said the site www.enugustatehoa.gov.ng would launch it into the global community.

Mr. Odo said that with the website and e-legislation, the lawmakers should be conscious of the fact that they were under public surveillance as the world could use the platform to assess their performance.

“This noble project will also assist us and our staff in data collation, processing and information dissemination.

“Information plays a vital role in legislative processes and lawmaking. If it is technologically driven, it makes the job of the legislature easier and enhances productivity.

“It will also assist us in conducting research in relevant areas of specialised interest, the media will find it helpful in sensitising the electorate while individuals can use it to determine our level of improvement and commitment to the people,’’ he said.

He said that as the first assembly in the South East to join the league of assemblies on e-legislation after Lagos and Kano, the assembly would make judicious use of the site to serve the people better.

The speaker said the DFID State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI) had assisted the state in actualising some of its four-point agenda of manpower development and service delivery.

He listed such assistance to include seminars, workshops, town hall meetings and furnishing of the assembly’s LBO all of which had strengthened the institutional capacity to function effectively.

In his speech, the clerk of the assembly, Christopher Chukwurah, said the website had provided another platform for legislator-constituent interface and the doors of the assembly opened for greater public participation in the process of law making.

Handing over the facilities, the National Team Leader of SAVI-DFID, Kevin Gager, commended the lawmakers for their courage, vision and mission as they were re-positioning the assembly.

He described the assembly as `one of the very rare assemblies’ with reform agenda that was written and budgeted.

“The website is like a chisel in the hand of the carpenter. If it is not used, it is useless.

“The website itself unless it is updated, unless the information is accurate, it is a waste of web space, your time and resources,’’ he said.

Mr. Gager urged all the units in the assembly to provide the information that would make people to visit the website.

Earlier during plenary, the lawmakers accepted the report of its committee on public accounts on the audit of the state auditor-general for 2008 to 2011.

(NAN)