Speaker Abbas seeks creation of Legislative Aides Directorate

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, has called for the creation of Legislative Aides Directorate in the National Assembly.

This, he said is to serve as a pool for recruitment of legislative aides by lawmakers.

Abbas made the call when the Executive Chairman, National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), Ahmed Amshi led a delegation of the Commission to the Speaker in Abuja.

Deputy Directory Information of the Commission, Mr Emmanuel Anyigo made this known in a statement in Abuja.

Anyigor quotes Abbas to have praised the 5th National Assembly Service Commission for its excellent performance since inauguration in Feb. 2020.

“It must be stated that the Commission under your chairmanship has done well in encouraging the existing cordial relationship between the commission and the National Assembly leadership.”

Abbas called for creation of a Legislative Aides Directorate to form a pool from which the lawmakers would recruit professional and skilled aides that would assist them succeed in their legislative work.

He said: “In this regard, the commission is expected to create a dedicated directorate with qualified and competent personnel to drive this vision for the interest of the legislature and consolidation of our legislative practice.

“The 10th House of Representatives and indeed, the National Assembly, is faced with the challenge of capacity development with the high turnover of the last election.

“This demands a bureaucracy that is well equipped to demonstrate competence and reliability by providing guidance to the new members.

“You must, as a Commission, show more diligence in your appointment of staff, including the legislative aides to members to ensure that those you engage following the recommendations of members are people with the requisite capacity to support their principals to succeed.

He further said that he would engender excellence and professionalism in the national assembly for optimum productivity.

In his remarks, Amshi said that since inauguration in Feb. 2020, the 5th NASC had promoted over 3000 officers to different positions, converted over 500 others to different cadres and handled five disciplinary cases.

He said that the building of the NASC Office Complex was the most outstanding achievement of the commission under his leadership.

Amshi said that the commission had successfully carried out other routine responsibilities and called for more budgetary provision for the National Assembly to help the institution to carry out other functions effectively.