The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr Tajudeen Abbas, has promised that the House will work closely with international aid organisations to meet the yearnings of Nigerians.
Dr Abbas made the remark at an interactive meeting with development partners and technical support organisations in Abuja.
According to him, the purpose of the meeting was to give participants a chance to exchange thoughts and information about the House’s contributions and support for efforts to build the abilities of its members and employees, work in which many of the partners have been engaged for more than ten years.
” 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.
He said institution building was 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 the need for coordination among the development partners to achieve the desired goals.
A representative of the British High Commission, Mr Chris Okeke, said the commission’s goal is to support the National Assembly in building democratic and accountable instincts that work for Nigerians.
Mrs Marija Peran of the Konrad Adenauer 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 Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), the Department for International Development (DFID), the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), the Konrade-Adenauer Foundation (kAS), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Partnership to Engage, Reform, And Learn (PERL), the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were among the development partners who attended the meeting.
Writing by Ibrahim Shehu; Editing by Jennifer Ogor