Barely two weeks after the Rivers State House of Assembly held its plenary in Government House, Port Harcourt, the lawmakers have resumed sitting at the same venue.
The House had during their first sitting in Government House designated the old Banquet Hall of the State Government House as a temporary chamber for them to meet.
Though, members had maintained that they had to relocate as a result of the ongoing renovation work at the Assembly complex, the sealing of the Assembly complex by the police had also forced them to hold plenary elsewhere.
Seventeen out of the 25 members were present at the sitting presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Otelemaba Dan-Amachree.
Members of the House, however, considered three bills, including the Rivers State Waste Management Bill, which went through the First Reading.
Dan-Amachree explained that the bill, when passed into law, would replace the law establishing the Rivers State Environmental Sanitation Authority.
The two other bills, which also went through the First Reading, are Rivers State Taxes and Levies Harmonisation Bill 2013 and the Rivers State Customary Court Bill 2013.
On the absence of some members at the Thursday’s sitting, the Speaker pointed out that those absent asked to be excused from the day’s exercise.
Dan-Amachree stated that the three bills would have been passed into law in 2013, adding the political crisis in the state had delayed deliberation on the bills.
The pro-Amaechi lawmakers absent at the sitting are the Leader of the House, Hon. Chidi Julius Lloyd, whose absence was due to ill-health; the member representing Okrika Constituency, Rev. Belema Okpokiri; the member representing Ikwerre Constituency, Azubuike Wanjoku; the member representing Akuku-Toru 1 Constituency, Onari Brown; and the member representing Akuku-Toru II Constituency, Frederick Anabraba.
Source: Punch
