The leadership of the Anambra State House of Assembly has reacted to the Assembly’s one-year anniversary. On 12th June 2023, the Anambra State 8th House of Assembly was inaugurated by Governor Chukwuma Soludo. During the inauguration, Hon. Somto Udeze of Ogbaru II constituency was elected the Speaker of the House, while Hon. Chukwuma Okoye of Awka South II was elected Deputy Speaker, and Hon. Ikenna Ofodeme, emerged as the Majority Leader. The Anambra 8th Assembly is easily the most colourful House of Assembly so far, with about four different political parties represented in the House and they are; APGA, LP, YPP, and PDP. This raised concerns that the House might be unsettling in many ways. But one year on, how has the House fared? Just yesterday, the governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo signed no fewer than eleven bills passed by the House into law. This is unprecedented, as it is not clear if the Anambra State House of Assembly in the past has passed up to eleven bills in its first year.
In an exclusive interview with the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Somto Udeze, the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Chukwuma Okoye, the Minority Leader, Hon. Johnbosco Akaegbobi, Hon. Augustine Ike, and Hon. Ejike Okechukwu, all expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Assembly so far, as well as optimism in what lies ahead.
Responding to the question to rate the 8th Assembly based on his experience as a three-term member of the House and as the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Somto Udeze said that teamwork has made a significant difference in the current House of Assembly. “I think one of the best or the most powerful tools I am finding is the teamwork which triggers active participation of members and strong will to achieve the legislative agenda of this Assembly,” the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Somto Udeze said. Commenting further on this collective sense of duty of the members of the 8th Assembly, Mr. Udeze said that the interest of members on Anambra outweighs all other considerations. “For this Assembly, it is one Anambra, one project. The strong participation of members is where I draw my strength to keep pushing. My experience in the past Assembly has also been of help.”
In terms of achievements in the past year and impact on the public, the Speaker reiterated the commitment of the 8th Assembly in doing their job as legislators. “We are lawmakers and the only way we get feedback is from our constituents. We have passed fourteen bills and the governor has assented to eleven only yesterday, and thirteen in total. I will be honest with you; we have deviated from what the House used to be before. We start early now and that helps us to have more time. This Assembly, every member come to work every day”, the Speaker said. Hon. Somto Udeze also commended the cooperation of House members and the Executive arm of the Anambra government, in getting things done. “We have a strong House. The Executive has been cooperating in that our resolutions are respected. The governor has assented to private-member bills, this hasn’t happened like that before. The law against cultism and anti-touting, we received visitors coming to appreciate it. Now, the public can also get copies of our laws. You know, once you are doing the right thing, the people will be happy. We want to be the best in the country. Working as a team is our greatest motivation,” Rt. Hon. Speaker, Somto Udeze, concluded.
Similarly, the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chukwuma Okoye on his part, congratulated all House members and also gave his opinion on the performance of the Assembly, while also commending the Speaker’s leadership. “Congratulations to us. We are quite productive. We are working together despite the fact that we are not from the same political party. We have the Anambra agenda, working for the progress of the state,” Rt. Hon. Okoye said.
On his part, the Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Johnbosco Akaegbobi, described the 8th Assembly as the best he has seen. “This is the best I have seen so far. So many things have changed, thereby making the job easy. We now start on time and yesterday, the governor signed some private member bills in one year. This is the first time. When you go through our votes and proceedings, you see the quality of our engagement. When you look at the attendance, you see that it is not the same. Even today, we are going to sit. I have to give kudos to the Speaker for managing the House so well thus far,” Hon. Johnbosco said.
For Hon. Ejike Okechukwu, the House Committee Chairman on Appropriation, the performance of the 8th Assembly has been impressive. “My impression of the 8th Assembly is that it is an improvement on the 7th Assembly. Starting from the inception, from day one when the leadership of the House was constituted, we kick-started our business. Yes, one major difference between the 7th and 8th Assembly is that in the 7th Assembly, we used to have our executive session before plenary on plenary days. But in this 8th Assembly, we have a day designated for executive session. So plenary days are strictly made for plenary sessions. It translated to the output being higher because we have achieved so much in the 8th Assembly much more than we have achieved by this time in the 7th Assembly,” Hon. Okechukwu said. He also commended the new members of the House for “picking up swiftly.” Much so, that “if you come to the House now, you won’t be able to differentiate between old and new members,” Hon. Ejike Okechukwu said. He equally noted that committee work has improved.
When asked to describe the 8th Anambra State House of Assembly in one word, Hon. Augustine Ike, the House member representing Nnewi North Constituency, described it as “productive.” Then, he was further asked to describe the Assembly in a sentence and this is what he said. “The 8th Assembly is committed to making sure that Anambra works in terms of providing enabling laws to ensure that the institutions function optimally,” Hon. Augustine said.
The 8th Anambra Assembly has set the pace at many levels. There are concerns that the coming 2025 governorship election might cause a stir, however, this is not easily ascertained. In the meantime, the Assembly’s performance in the last year remains creditable.
He is a Technical Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano’s Special Adviser on Legislative Matters, whoonce was a Special Adviser to a former Deputy Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly. Ebuka is a second class upper division graduate of Political Science from University of Calabar, Calabar Nigeria and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science with specialization in Government and Development Studies, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria
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