Monsurat Sunmonu

While Speaker, Sunmonu led the Oyo state House of Assembly to pass the Nigerian Constitutional amendment providing financial autonomy for State Houses of Assemblies and Local Governments. However, in Nigeria, Constitutional amendments require passage in 2/3 of Nigeria's 36 State Assemblies followed by Presidential assent. Although the amendments was passed in the required 2/3 of Nigeria's 36 State Assemblies, it did not receive the Presidential assent of President Goodluck Jonathan.[5]

On 15 November 2016, Sunmonu moved a Motion[8] during the Senate Plenary calling on the Federal Government to mandate public hospitals and medical institutions to treat accident and gunshot victims immediately and remove the bureaucracy of paperwork such as police reports and receipts of payment of medical expenses.[9] The Motion was passed and adopted as a Bill, which passed all readings in both the Senate and The House of Representatives and was passed concurrently on 11 July 2017.[10] The Bill was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2017.[11]

In the National Assembly, Sunmonu has been very vocal in her calls for equal rights for women in Nigeria.[12] She is noted for her support of the #GenderEqualityBill and has often called for cross-party cooperation to get the Bill passed.

Sunmonu has attended conferences both inside and outside of Nigeria on the issue of corruption and how to tackle it.[13] In her capacity as Chair of the Senate committee on Foreign Affairs, she has spoken on how she believes that an important way to tackle corruption is by adopting a multilateral approach so that criminals cannot hide proceeds in foreign countries.[14]

Sunmonu has lent her voice in opposition to the controversial #GrazingReserveBill.[15] Sunmonu is quoted in the press as saying that the Bill could adversely affect her constituents and, has argued that being a business, cattle-rearers should purchase land and not be allocated land for free by Government.[16]

Sunmonu is noted for her calls for Nigeria to reduce its carbon footprint and the need to turn to renewable sources of energy.[17] She was part of the delegation that attended the historic #COP21 in Paris, France, where for the first time countries signed a historic pact to reduce CO₂ emissions before 2020.

During the presentation of the 2016 Budget, Sunmonu charged the Federal Government to increase its spending in Technical Colleges. She argued against the culture of pushing all students to white collar academics, instead that adequate investment be made in technical colleges to open a new area of industry and help reduce unemployment. She also called for increased allocation to Technical Colleges within her Senatorial District.[18]

Oyo-Ogbomosho Expressway

Sunmonu has been very vocal on the deterioration and non-completion of the Ibadan-Ilorin expressway, for which a contract was awarded in 1999. The road was split into 3 phases: Ibadan-Oyo, Oyo-Ogbomosho and Ogbomosho-Ilorin, with only the Oyo-Ogbomosho axis uncompleted. On 4 August 2015, Sunmonu was a co-sponsor of a motion moved by Sen. Dino Melaye on the deplorable condition of a number of Nigerian roads, of which Oyo-Ogbomosho was specifically mentioned.[19] She is reported to have met with the contractor and top government officials in an effort to ensure completion of the road.[20] The road was included in the 2016 National Budget with 6 Billion Naira budgeted towards resumption of work.[21] Sunmonu flagged off the resumption of work on 22 August 2016, about 1 year after moving the motion on the floor of the Senate[22] with Sen. Kabiru Gaya (Chairman, Senate Committee on Works) being quoted as saying that "Senator Sunmonu was on the neck of the Senate and the committee to ensure that the road is accommodated in the budget".[23] The resultant pressure caused the Executive to publicly commit to complete the road before the end of the Administration.[24]

Ibadan-Ife Expressway

Sunmonu visited the Adegbayi axis of the Ibadan-Ife Expressway where the road was badly damaged. She is reported to have immediately called the managing director of the company contracted to execute works and within 1 month, the area of the expressway was repaired.[25]