By Sunday Ani
Following the ravaging effect of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the Lagos State House of Assembly, yesterday, called on the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to direct the Commissioner for Information, Mr.
Gbenga Omotoso, to intensify public enlightenment campaigns to curtail its spread among Lagosians.
Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, who presented the matter during plenary on Tuesday, also said it was important for the House to invite the Commissioner for Health, Professor Tunji Abayomi, to brief the House on the state government’s efforts to prevent the spread of the disease in the state.
He stressed that there was an urgent need to ensure that all the COVID-19 protocols were strictly observed, even as he the government to ensure that enforcement was total as the most reliable precautions against the scourge for now.
“The Governor is down with mild symptoms of COVID-19 and I want to urge all the lawmakers in the House to observe the protocols of the pandemic.
“The Clerk of the House should also ensure that the staff of the House and visitors observe the protocols.
“We should sustain the campaign against the spread of the disease in the state. We all know that the disease is on the increase in the United States of America and in other countries.
“The Commissioner for Health, Professor Tunji Abayomi, should come and brief the House on the efforts being made to prevent the spread of the disease in the state,” Obasa said.
Commenting on the matter, a member of the House Committee on Health Services, Bisi Yusuff (Alimosho 1), lamented that people no longer take precaution against the disease as many don’t even believe that it exists.
He stressed that the state could not afford another lockdown, warning that the only way out was for people to observe the new normal, which is to observe the protocol.
Also, the Cooperative Societies Bill 2020, which is titled, “A Bill for a law to provide for the registration of Cooperative Societies in Lagos State and for connected matters,” was read for the second time.
Thereafter, it was analysed by the Chairman, House Committee on Commerce and Industry, Ganiu Okanlawon (Kosofe 1) and then debated on by members at the sitting.
Members agreed that the bill seeks to address all the inadequacies bedeviling the existing law on cooperative societies in the state and called for speedy passage of the bill.
After exhaustive deliberations, the Speaker committed the bill to the House Committee on Commerce and Industry, to report back to the House in two weeks.
In a related development, there was also the presentation of a report on Unlawful Societies and Cultism (Prohibition) Bill 2020 by the Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, Public Petitions and LASIEC, Victor Akande (Ojo1).
After members’ observations and comments on the Bill titled: “A Bill for a law to provide for the prohibition of Unlawful Societies and Cultism in Lagos State and for other connected purposes,” the committee was asked to go and make some amendments before it would be read for the third time.
The Speaker then urged the standing committees of the House to conclude work on the Bills before them, while the joint Committees on Budget and Economic Planning and Finance were equally asked to complete work on the 2021 Budget proposal of the state before the end of the year.
The House later adjourned sitting to Monday, December 28, at 12 noon.
