It's not for fun that the number plates of cars registered in Oyo State bear "The Pacesetter". The state is really setting the pace for others in many ways. At present, it's perhaps the only state whose House of Assembly is led by a woman, Hon. Monsurat Sunmonu. Women are known to be thrifty - they manage scarce resources better than men. Small wonder Governor Abiola Ajimobi (who is known to be frugal too) now works well with the state legislature.

Oyo may have replaced "amala politics" with an innovative programme that fits the description "go and see". The lawmakers' wives and Speaker Sunmonu have just returned from London where they took a rigorous two-week course in how to assist their husbands in the business of lawmaking and reaching out to their constituents.

The trip to London for the "Women of Calibre" programme cost the state's taxpayers a paltry N50million - an amount less than what used to be shared in Molete, Ibadan, per week when the "strongman of Ibadan politics" was still around.

Sending the women to London - most of them had not left the shores of Nigeria for the first time - was a very wise decision, as the tempo of activities in the chambers of the House of Assembly will soon show.

Indeed, London played host to the pacesetters in a grand style. Just as the women were taking the course, Governor Ajimobi also travelled to London with some of his family members and aides to perform a patriotic duty: restoring the nation's dignity in the eyes of the world after the federal government had outlawed official delegation to the ongoing London Olympic Games.

For the lawmakers' spouses, however, everything in the two-week period wasn't about teaching and learning how to help their husbands. They did practical work when the time came for sightseeing and shopping.

On their return, they were expected to support their husbands just like the pillars supporting the London bridges they had seen.

Gifts bought at London shops and at Heathrow airport had to be shared among their spouses' constituents. The life of every Oyo person has changed forever, thanks to this course.

We urge other lawmakers at the federal, state and local government levels to walk in the footsteps of the Oyo legislators. Each legislature should pass a bill making it compulsory for the spouses of lawmakers to attend a similar course in Europe or America every quarter.

That way, governors wouldn't be fighting with the honourable members in matters concerning budget implementation and embezzlement of public funds.

Likely, "The Pacesetter" state has found the solution to the frequent clashes often noticed between the executive and the legislature in states. It's a great lesson in good governance: better life for lawmakers, their spouses and their constituents.