By James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta

The Speaker of the Ogun state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Oludaisi Elemide has called for a total autonomy to the legislative arm of government, at the federal and state level in order for democracy to survive in the country.

Elemide, who made the call, while speaking with newsmen in Abeokuta, to mark his one year as the Speaker, Ogun State House of Assembly, noted that though some states have administrative and financial autonomy, the need for total autonomy is imperative for thorough separation of powers within the three arms of government.

“Though, there are three tiers of government in the country; the executive, legislative and judiciary, but the reality is that we are not equal. The executive is termed as number one, legislative as number two while the judiciary is seen as number three and this reflects in our day-to-day activities”.

“No arm of government is completely independent of the other, but we have talked a lot about autonomy. To a great extend, we can say we have administrative autonomy, but a lesser extend of financial autonomy”.

“But what we are clamoring for is complete and full autonomy of the legislative arm of government”, he said

While describing the legislature as the bedrock of democracy, the Speaker emphasized the complementary roles of all the arms of government in a democracy.

He said that for democracy to thrive, there must be symbiotic relationships among all arms of government, saying the Assembly relationship with the executive arm had remained cordial which culminated in the overall development of the State.

Elemide, while highlighting his achievements in the last one year, said the Assembly has passed a total of eleven bills, while over 42 motions were passed into Resolutions for the promotion of peace, order and good governance in the State.

He added that over 90 petitions were received within the period on issues affecting the various constituencies across the State, stressing that majority of the issues were on land-grabbing activities.

He added that the achievements of his leadership in the last one year include the the complete rehabilitation of of the assembly complex with running pipe borne water, the first of its kind almost 49 years after it was constructed.

Speaking on the incessant clashes between the herders/farmers arising from open grazing, the Speaker stated that the Assembly had since passed the anti-open grazing bill, stressing that the onus was on the security agencies to prosecute violators.