The Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. (Prince) Yekini Idaiye, has promised to operate an open-door policy during his tenure as Speaker of the Assembly.

He made the promise when the Directors of the Edo State House of Assembly paid him a courtesy visit.

The Speaker said he had nothing to hide from members and staff of the Assembly, stating that his mission was to ensure that things are done properly for the benefit of all.

The Speaker further explained that the recurrent expenditure of the House is intact and that funds meant for capital infrastructure would be used for that purpose.

He decried the mismanagement of the Assembly’s funds which led to the amendment of the House Autonomy Law.

Rt. Hon. Idaiye assured the Directors that the House would build more offices for staff members, make arrangements for refresher training for them if allocations to the Assembly increase, and possibly create a position for an additional Deputy Clerk of the House.

According to the Speaker: “Before now, members did not know what was coming to the House. What we were told then was that we got 70% or 80% of the allocation. Members did not know the exact amount”.

“What I did when we got our allocation was to make everything public. All of us gathered in the executive session and I told them what we got. The members know what we got and how the funds were disbursed.”

Earlier, the Director of Pensions Department, Mr. Mohammed Kassim, who spoke on behalf of the Directors of the Edo State House of Assembly, had appealed to the Speaker to create a space for at least one additional Deputy Clerk of the House.

He appealed to the speaker to erect a structure to accommodate more offices for staff, and organise a training programme for the Directors.