The Bauchi State Government has inaugurated a 21 member committee for successful implementation of the Executive Order 10 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari for financial autonomy to the legislature and judiciary arms of government.
The State Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, while inaugurating the committee, headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Sabiu Baba Mohammed, at the Banquet Hall of the Government House on Tuesday, urged members of the committee to look at the implication and implementation framework for the proposed autonomy for the two arms of government.
“This is a welcome development with the serious implication in terms of transparency and good governance. We are not afraid of doing things properly. The legislature is the most important organ of government but during the military era, it was suspended.
“We are exercising separation of powers among the three arms of government knowing fully well that whatever comes into the coffers of government comes to the executive but we need to deepen democracy by giving autonomy to other arms. Issues surrounding the Executive Order are important to discuss and hence his administration would not shy away from them.
“For instance, the budget in its entirety, how are we going to ensure deductions? We are also discussing it at the Governors’ Forum but we in Bauchi State establish this committee to come up with a sound administrative framework for implementation for consensus, agreement, synergy and how and where we want to go,” he said.
He assured the people of the state that his administration would not short-change them, hence it decided to bring all the Ministries, Department and Agencies along to look at the Executive Order 10, including those that will be given autonomy.
The Governor stated that the composition of the 21- member committee include the Secretary to the State Government as Chairman, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Budget as Secretary, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Representatives of the Speaker of the State Assembly, the Clerk of the House, the Chief Judge, Representatives of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Chairman of the JSC and the State Head of Service.
Others include the Principal Secretary to the Governor, the Chairman, Assembly Matters Commission, the Registrar of Sharia Court of Appeal, the Chairman Board of Internal Revenue, the Chairman Planning Commission, the Commissioners for Finance and that of Local Government Affairs among others.
Governor Mohammed said the terms of reference of the committee were to study issues of autonomy, principles and guidelines as provided by the Federal Government, identifying key challenges for effective collaboration for implementation and advising the state government on implementation modalities for Executive Order 10.
The committee has three to four weeks to submit the report, the governor said.
