• House Committee on Information pledges better synergy with state-owned media outfits
There are strong indications that the Delta State Appropriation Bill for services of the government of the state in the 2024 fiscal year will be passed next week.
Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Hon Marylyn Okowa-Daramola and her counterpart in Information, Hon Emeka Mwaobi,
disclosed this in separate sessions with newsmen at the State Assembly Complex, Asaba.
The Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation’s Chairman, Marylyn Okowa-Daramola, disclosed that the committee is expected to on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, submit it report during plenary of the House.
Hon Okowa-Daramola, told newsmen at the end of Friday’s sitting of the committee, that all the standing committees had submitted their reports with recommendations based on observations during their defense sessions with the MDAs.
She said her committee would dutifully study the reports and make final recommendations before submitting it to the House.
Okowa-Daramola stated that the committee would be working on its report over the weekend to beat the 13th December deadline for submission.
The lawmaker, who represents Ika North East Constituency in the House, assured Deltans that the envisioned “Budget of Hope and Optimism” would meet their expectation of MORE development in all sectors of the economy.
The Chairman, House Committee on Information and Majority Leader of the House, had described the beehives of activities at the State Assembly Complex in the week as normal, as the standing committees strive to meet with the deadline of submitting their reports to the Finance and Appropriations Committee.
Hon Nwaobi who represents Aniocha North in the House, said the budget defense sessions by the standing committees with MDAs of the government of Delta State was a constitutional provision that must be met in the legislative process of passing the appropriation bill.
Expressing optimism that the committees will meet the deadline of the budget scrutiny, the Majority Leader emphasized that the exercise is in line with section 121 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He stated that it is incumbent on the House to do their best in carrying out their lawful duties to support the state government.
The Majority Leader and Chairman House Committee on Information had during his session with officials of Ministry of Information and parastatals under it, reassured the state-owned media outfits, Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS) Asaba and Warri, the Pointer Newspaper as well as the Information Ministry of robust synergy for enhanced information dissemination.
Admitting that the media outfits have not been performing optimally due to inadequate support and attention, Nwaobi was optimistic that the present administration, in line with its M.O.R.E agenda mantra, would improve on the perceived lapses.
He said his committee is not particularly happy with the current state of the state-owned media outfits, stressing that they have not been performing optimally as desired due to non availability of the required equipment and facilities.
According to the Majority Leader, the previous administration did its best, and expressed the hope that the present administration of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori with the M.O.R.E agenda will enhance the services of the state media outfits.
Nwaobi however charged the management and staff of the various media outfits to up their games and be ready to discharge their duties creditably.