A little headway for the passage of the Rivers State 2008 appropriation bill came underway, as the Rivers State House of Assembly Tuesday committed it to the committee stage.
The committal of the bill came after an intense debate by members during the first and second readings in the House.
It would be recalled that debate on the bill was deffered after its introduction by the House leader, Hon Golden Ngozi Chioma (Etche) as lawmakers noted that they needed time to peruse the bill in order to make effective contributions.
But Tuesday’s presentation of the proposed 2008 Appropriation Bill of N280.08bn submitted to the Assembly early last month by governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi did not attract any further comments from the legislators as they voted for its committal to committee stage.
Consequently, the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon Tonye Harry immediately constituted 29 committees of the House for quick consideration of the budget.
The constitution of the committees by the speaker brought to an end speculations bordering on the non-composition of the various House committees by the Sixth Assembly since inauguration, last year.
Inaugurating the Committees, the Speaker, Rt Hon Harry who presided urged the various committees to critically look into the budget and invite commissioners and general managers to defend their budgets.
He directed the leader of the House, Hon Golden Ngozi Chioma (Etche II) to ensure that he drew up an itinary of programmes on how the various committees could meet for effective performance of their assignments.
The speaker announced that he would be in-charge of the budget allocation for the office of the governor and the state Assembly, while the deputy speaker, Hon Nwile Befil Charles would be responsible for the office of the deputy governor.
The committees inaugurated were Public Account, Finance judiciary, Local Government and Works. Others are, Women Affairs, Commerce, Agriculture, Water Resources as well as Education committees.
Also inaugurated were Youths and Empowerment, Tourism and Culture, Social Welfare, Rehabilitation, RSIEC, and Commissions and Agencies committees.
Others include, Rules and Business, Information and Training, Public Petition, Ethics, UBE, Sustainable Development and Emergency, Power as well as Energy and Water Resources.
Committees on Chieftaincy Affairs, Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Sports and Environment were also inaugurated.
