By Eucharia Nzeabi, Asaba
Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Emomotimi Guwor, pledged continued partnership with journalists to deliver development to the people of Delta.
He made the pledge on Wednesday, when the Executives and members of the Asaba Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) paid him a courtesy visit in Asaba.
He charged journalists to verify their reports and be objective in their reportage in partnership with the Assembly towards developing the state.
He said, “I have been longing to meet you, the journalists, we are partners in progress.
“As Mr Speaker, I and my colleagues are readily available to see how we can partner in the nation building work that we are doing and I want to assure you that we will continue to partner with you.
He assured that the House would look into the request made and would meet them halfway, adding that the Chapel would be supported.
He said that he had taken noted of all the request made regarding to law making and assured that each would be looked into and addressed on its merit.
“All the request that has to do with law making, we will look at them strictly and take active measures in making sure we do the best for our people.
“That is why we are elected to making sure we give the best to Deltans.
“We are 29 members and the people feel we are able and capable of doing the task that they asked us in terms of representation, law making and over sighting the activities of government,” Guwor said.
Guwor, assured that the Assembly would do it’s best to deliver the best to the people of the state.
He assures that the M.O.R.E Agenda mantra of Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori would positively impact the journalists in the state, adding that the governor’s hands are open to accommodate journalists.
Earlier, the Chairman, Asaba Correspondents, Comrade Ifeanyi Olannye, said that visit was to congratulate the Speaker on his appointment and vibrancy in the duty of law making.
He noted that the timely legislation from the House has spurred the state into a development hub and construction sites been championed by the construction giant, the Julius Berger.
Olannye, however, urged the House to facilitate the domestication of the N70,000 minimum wage law to ease the burden of the state workers who had been traumatised by hike in price of petrol and other products in the country.
He also urged the House to liaise with he executives and the judiciary arms to enforce and punish persons who trespassed the laws in the state.
“We are particular about the Disability law, Ban on Open Grazing, Ban on Iron Condemn and Property Protection Law (Ban on Deve Collection) among others we urging you to liaise with the executive arm and the judiciary to enforce and punish offenders to ensure sanity and deterrent.
“We urge the House to take action to ensure immediate domestication of the N70,000 Minimum Wage Law in the State and to improve on it to better the life of the state workers whose lives have been traumatised due to the high pricing of the Premium Motor Spirit( PMS) also known as Petrol by the Federal Government.
“We, hereby call for legislation to declare emergency in the Agricultural sector, thereby making farming compulsory for all civil servants, secondary schools and for communities to form farmers cooperatives across the state.
” Make provision for fund, engage communities for land and give civil servants grants and a-one-day off duty every week to engage in farming and then put mechanism in place to monitor their activities. This will no doubt help to ensure food security and jobs creation in the state.
“We also want the House to look into the essence of the review by the Federal Government, the law relating to the power sector to ensure that the State Power and Energy sector receive adequate funding and attention to make electricity available to all household in the state.
“We are hopeful that addressing these and some other needs, would not only address hunger but create employment and enabling environment for more businesses to thrive in our state.
“We are not in doubt of the capacity of this House under your vibrant leadership to deliver the dividends of good governance to our people inline with the Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori’s M.O.R.E Agenda.
