By Bukola Hameed
The Oyo State House of Assembly has struck out the Oyo State Staff Loans Board Bills, 2021 describing it as pointless and unnecessarily complex.
The Bill which seeks the establishment of a centralized staff Loans Board in the Civil and Public Service of Oyo State Government and Other Matters Connected therewith was struck out at the Tuesday’s plenary at it second reading stage.
During his contributions on the floor of the house, the lawmaker representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju State Constituency, Hon. Adeola Bamidele noted that provision of loan facilities for civil and public servants should remain under the supervision and regulations of their agencies and/or headquarters.
He said, “TESCOM, SUBEB, Ministries and others have car, housing loans provisions for secondary school teachers, primary school teachers and civil servants respectively.
“The proposed bill requesting for a unified loan board for the entire State does not present any strong reason nor raise any flaw against the existing civil service loan structure. Therefore, we should consider it needless.”
Hon. Adebayo Babajide representing Ibadan North constituency II also buttress the argument saying having a single board to attend to the affairs of the entire staff of Oyo State will be too cumbersome and of course end up ineffective.
The Speaker in his own words, noted that if the current system is serving the people well, then there is no need for fusion.
He said, “Since the inception of this assembly, we have not received or heard of any theft case against the TESCOM car loan and other loans State that are State’s provision.
“The house has considered this needless as it has possibilities of creating more problems instead of solving any.”