The Deputy Speaker of the House
of Representatives, Lasun Yusuf, has said the real reason the green chamber of
the National Assembly rejected the idea of proposed restructuring of the
country was because the public did not show enough interest on the issue of
devolution of power.
He, however, said the House of
Reps will revisit the issue of devolution of power when plenary resumes later
this month.
Lasun said this in an interview
with journalists in Ilobu his home town in Osun State during the weekend.
He stated that those who voted
for devolution of power would have won if simple majority vote had been adopted
to determine the approval or rejection, saying 220 Reps voted for its approval.
He said the 240 votes needed to
approve the proposal fell short by 20 votes, adding that the amendment also
failed by the same narrow margin at the Senate.
He explained that the majority of
the lawmakers were in support of devolution of power, blaming the lack of
interest of the members of the public for the failure of the amendment.
He argued that the lawmakers, who
voted against the provision, did so because their constituents did not instruct
them to support it during the public hearings.
Lasun said: “Devolution of power
failed because members of the public did not show interest in what we were
doing. If they did, they would have discouraged those lawmakers, who voted
against it, from doing that.
“But the good news is that we
will revisit it when we resume. We are going back to it when we resume.
“Those who don’t want devolution
of power are in the minority.
“We would have won if it was by
simple majority. Someone asked me why I am supporting devolution of power when
I know that I am contesting to be governor in my state and I told him that I am
not contesting to sit over the local government money.
“States will be relieved of
burden once the local governments have more power.”
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