The Osun State House of Assembly in partnership with Kimpact Development Initiative has launched an E -parliament platform for the legislatures to be able to reach out to the residents of the State.
The launching, held at OSHA Research Centre on Wednesday 5th of October 2022, had in attendance dignitaries across the State and also members of the State House of Assembly.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Timothy Owoeye, welcomed members of the House and also the Special Adviser to the Governor on Legislative Matters, Hon. Kamil Oyedele to the launching of the platform.
In his address, Owoeye said described the launch as historic event, aimed at redefining the State’s environment, in accordance with the current global standard.
He said, “An E- parliament system is indeed a critical tool, it can help the legislatures perform their duty more effectively and efficiently. Also to improve the engagement of citizens, encourage residents to take interests in things that matter and participate in Democratic process”.
He stated that the essence of the E- Parliament was to create an avenue where the residents can reach out to the legislators of their constituents, to form or give opinion in the democratic system of the State.
“In order to enhance maximum utilisation of the E- Parliament platform ,necessary machinery has been put in place including budgetary provisions, substantial number of laptops ,computers and other vital ICT equipments for the use of Honorable members, legislative staff and other key stakeholders .
He, therefore, beseeched the assistance and support of the state government under the able leadership of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
Representing the Kimpact Development Initiative, KDI, Olufemi John Adebayo, the senior program manager said the platform is a framework that has to do with leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Adebayo said the importance of the platform was to get the people closer to the government, to allow the citizens know their rights, the laws, the bills passed in the Assembly, also the legislators in their constituents that have passed a bill.
Adebayo concluded that with the aid of the platform, residents will have a chance to participate in political and democratic process of the State.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Legislative Matters, Kamil Oyedele, commended the initiative of the Speaker to go beyond the analog to digital wise.
” I commend the recent development of the Speaker to be able to be in compliance with digital age, the E- Parliament platform will enable residents of the State, who uses social media, instead of coming down to the Assembly to know what’s going on, they will just look it up on the website”.
In an interview with Insight media, Oyedele said “that the impact of the platform on the residents will allow them to be politically active in Legislative Matters, to allow the youths to be able to partake in democratic process in order to aid the development of the state”.
Owoeye launched the official Platform and those who were in attendance, had personal walk through the website, http://www.hoa.os.gov.ng, so as to enable residents have conversations with the legislators of their constituents.
