The Kwara State House of Assembly on Tuesday in Ilorin said it would collaborate with the executive to ban construction of petrol stations in residential premises.
The Speaker of the House, Dr. Ali Ahmad, made the disclosure at the first plenary of the assembly after the Christmas and New Year recess.
Ahmad said that the assembly would liaise with the executive and come out with laws that would discourage indiscriminate erection of petrol stations and shops in densely populated areas across the state.
He stressed the need to overhaul and review the state Town Planning Law with a view to curbing the menace as well as preventing any disaster associated with filling stations in the state.
The speaker also said that the assembly would erect a 500-capacity hall for public hearings on bills and interactions with residents of the state on issues affecting them.
He solicited continued support of the public to the legislature in its bid to improve their well-being.
The assembly in September 2016 ordered the demolition of four petrol stations in llorin for being situated in densely populated areas.
However, only two of the stations were demolished in October with two have remained untouched.
Ahmad pledged that the legislature would make governance more transparent by providing access to all necessary information.
Ahmad said: “The assembly will continue to raise the bar of good governance as overdue accounts of the state must be audited and presented by the appropriate authority to the assembly within the first quarter of the year.”
He disclosed that the first few weeks of the second session of the assembly would be dedicated to the processes and passage of the 2017 Appropriation Bill.
The speaker urged his colleagues to keep the “flag flying’’ by ensuring transparency, accountability and good governance without compromising the aspirations and standards set by the people they represented.
He said that it was the collective responsibility of all to fashion out projects and programmes that would bring succour to the citizenry.
The assembly called on the state government to direct the Ministry of Tourism to come up with a comprehensive statistics of tourism potentials in the state.
The call followed a motion by Kamaldeen Fagbemi on exploring the tourism potentials of the state.
The House said that knowledge of the potential would help formulation of policies that would encourage private investment in tourism and boost revenue of the state.
