The Speaker of the House of Representatives Dr Tajudeen Abbas, says the House would work in a more coordinated manner with Development partners towards an improved National Assembly.
Dr Abbas made the remark at an interactive meeting with development partners and technical support organisations in Abuja.
He said the meeting was organised to provide an opportunity to share ideas and updates on contributions and support to the House on capacity development for Members and staff which many of the partners have been involved in for over a decade.
” One of my cardinal policy thrusts, on assumption of office as Speaker of the House, is capacity development for Members and Staff of the House of Representatives. This has become more imperative following the high turnover rate of the 10th House of Representatives where we have over two hundred new Members with hundreds of Legislative Aides. This number of Members and Aides requires improved capacity to cope with the office’s demands. Hence, institutional capacity development is considered one of the priority components of the Legislative Agenda of the 10th House.
“Your interventions have partly contributed to the success story of the Legislative Business of the House in the past. I hope that you will not do less even in this Assembly. The Legislative Agenda of the 10th House is the barometer to monitor and evaluate the engagement of the House with Nigerians and we expect that you will as usual play critical role in the successful implementation of the Agenda”.
He said institution building is the gateway to professionalism, efficiency and productivity, assuring that the 10th House of Representatives would respond to the yearnings and expectations of the citizenry.
The Speaker also stressed need for coordination among the development partners to achieved the desired goals.
A representative of the British High Commission, Mr Chris Okeke, said the commission’s goal is to support the National Assembly along building democratic and accountable instinct that work for Nigerians.
Mrs Marija Peran of Konrad Adenuer Stiftung foundation, expressed optimism that the 10th assembly will leave a mark in the future, saying the foundation would continue to collaborate with the House in the area of capacity building.
The Senior Programme Executive
OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative, Mrs Regina Udo, stated that they are looking towards collaborating with the 10th assembly in the area of electoral reforms.
The development partners who attended the meeting included the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), the Department for International Development (DFID), the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Konrade-Adenauer Foundation (kAS), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Partnership to Engage, Reform And Learn (PERL), the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy (CISLAC) as well as the International Community on Red Cross (ICRC).
COV/IBRAHIM SHEHU
