The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, NILDS has called on African countries to synergise efforts towards nurturing the legislative arm of government which has suffered a lot of set backs sequel to military interregnums.
Abubakar Sulaiman, NILDS Director-General made this call Monday during a training on the exchange of knowledge between Gambian National Assembly Committee Clerks and Nigerian National Assembly Committee Clerks in Abuja.
Sulaiman said the African Parliamentary bodies have to learn from each in terms of experience, comparative analysis and contrast, pointing out that, the quality of the laws is based on the capacity of the legislators and effectiveness of the Committees.
“For every legislature to thrive and work effectively, the Committee system is very key whether it is unicameralism or bicameralism, what is important is that they have an organ that work for them, the same thing apply to Nigeria. In terms experience, comparative analysis, contrast, I think we have too much to learn from each other”, he noted.
The NILDS Director-General who observed that the depth and breadth of work in a legislature can not be fully conducted in the plenary sessions said, specialized committees carry out detailed work of the legislature and these committees have clearly defined mandates to carry out in-depth analysis and review public policy.
Sulaiman while noting that, one of most critical factors for committee effectiveness is the quality of support staff and resources available to the committee, said, ” to perform optimally, committees should be well resourced with the requisite skilled personnel, access to relevant and accurate analysis and information, and adequate logistical support.
“This underscores the importance of this study visit. We have prepared a detailed programme to cover alp aspects of work undertaken by committees including meetings, public and investigative hearings, oversight visits, interactive sessions, consideration of Bills and much more”.
Landing Jobe, Gambia National Assembly Director of Committees in a goodwill message stated that the well-functioning of National Assemblies are supported by committees system whose effectiveness and efficiency are supported by clerks who provide administrative duties to achieve the objective of oversight function of the legislature.
Jobe who acknowledged that the Gambian Committee Clerks would be exposed to new knowledge and also benchmark with their Nigerian counterparts to learn best practices, processes and procedures on committees effectiveness, commended NILDS for support to capacity building of Parliamentarians and Staff of the ECOWAS region.
James Kwen, Abuja
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