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Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, signed the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC Amendment bill into law, yesterday, after the cause of disagreement was resolved with oil communities.
Speaking after signing the bill, Governor Okowa said, “You have just witnessed the signing into law of the DESOPADEC amendment bill, 2015 to the original law of 2006 establishing the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission. This amendment bill was forwarded to the House of Assembly in the course of this administration a few weeks ago and we want to thank God that the House has completed the process of passing into law the amendment bill of 2015 to the original DESOPADEC law.”
The Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly Rt Hon. Monday Igbuya and the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Friday Osanebi and other principal officers of the House witnessed the signing of the bill.
His words, “There was a lot of interest when this bill was presented to the House of Assembly and as is customary of Deltans , who are very bright and vibrant, a lot of people showed interest and they had the opportunity to contribute their quota towards a robust Commission.”
“I want to thank God that the Delta State House of Assembly took the bill to public hearing and Deltans made their contributions to enrich the bill. There were many engagements and misconception that arose from the fact that some people did not even know what was in the original law and in the amendment bill sent to the House. We thank God that at the end, the bill was in the best interest of Delta State and the oil producing communities in particular,” he said.
The governor said, “Through this law, we are now establishing a management team for the DESOPADEC, which will meet the expectations for which the commission was initially established. Membership of the board remains, but now we have brought in a management structure that can see us through to the future of the commission that we all desire, a commission that will be structured to impact positively on the lives of our people in terms of infrastructural development, social services and economic services.”
While commending members of the Delta State House of Assembly for their proactive approach to law making, he urged them to remain vibrant and continue to collaborate with the executive arm towards impacting more positively on the lives of Deltans”.
He added, “There is also another bill in the House, which is the Delta State Contributory Health Insurance bill and it is our hope that the House is able to speedily pass that bill into law so that our people will benefit from the intentions of the bill.”
“It is our hope that despite the challenges of the moment, we will stay focused in bringing prosperity to our people, not only in ensuring a healthy people but in the economy of the family and the development of different sectors of our state,” the governor stated.
Earlier, Rt. Hon. Igbuya had said, “The bill was properly looked into by members of the House in spite of all the controversies surrounding the presentation of the bill.
Honourable Igbuya observed that the controversies made the members of the public to understand that the bill was not harmful, but was actually to bring out the good intentions behind the creation of the commission.”
Courtesy – Vanguard News
