Taraba state House of Assembly
had, Tuesday, debated on the
Taraba state Local Government Law
[10] Amendment Bill 2000, which
was sent to it for passage by
Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku.

The House had received an Executive Bill earlier on
which seeks to amend the principal law by reducing
the tenure of local government Chairmen and
Councilors in the state from three
to two years, which was considered
for first reading.
In a plenary held Tuesday, and
presided over by Speaker of the
House, Abel Peter Diah, considered
the Bill for second reading and was
subsequently debated upon.
Leading the debate, Majority
Leader of the House, Joseph Albasu
Kunini, stated that due to
exigencies, the tenure of local
governments was reduced to two
years.
According to Mark Useni, PDP,
Takum 2, the amendment was in
the spirit of the constitution, while
his counterpart representing Takum
1, Hosea Ibi, stated that due to the
peculiarities in the state, the two
years was okay and that the short
tenure was enough for any
Chairman to deliver.
Also, Josiah Aji, PDP, Wukari 1 and
Mohammed Abdulkarim, PDP, Ibi,
who spoke in their capacity as
former Chairmen, argued that the
brief tenure was not an excuse for
any Chairman not to perform citing
past administrations who
distinguished themselves under a
short period. According to Aji,
everything bows down to
preparedness and that the short
tenure was supposed to ginger any
Chairman desirous to serve.
However, Charles Maijankai, PDP,
Karim 1 constituency, opposed the
Bill on the basis of tenure, saying
the House should amend a law that
would ‘stand the test of time’ as
members of the House could be
beneficiaries of the Law they are
amending. According to Maijankai,
two years was inadequate for a
Chairman to deliver. He said, due to
the economic crunch, it would be
unwise to conduct local
government elections at short
intervals considering the huge
funding involved.
In a similar vein, the Taraba state
Independent Electoral Commission
Amendment Law [4], 2015, passed
through second reading, but was
not debated upon because the
subject therein was similar to the
Local Government Law considered
earlier on. The House agreed in that
respect, and both Laws were then
referred to the Committee on Local
Government and Chieftaincy Affairs
for further deliberations and were
given one week to submit its report.
In another development, the House
has considered the Debt
Management Office Establishment
Bill 2016, sponsored by the Speaker,
Abel Peter Diah. The Bill was laid
before the House and then referred
to the Business and Rules
Committee for further
deliberations and consideration of
the general principles on the next
legislative day.
Meanwhile, the House has
proceeded on recess and would
resume on 4th October, 2016.

#TarabaVoices

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