Abbas advocates capacity building for reps members, support staff

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas has pledged to prioritise capacity building for members and staff of the house to ensure effective service delivery.

Abbas made the pledge on Thursday at the opening of a 2-day workshop titled: ‘Improving the Effectiveness of Legislative Aids’, organised for aides in the office of the speaker.

The workshop was organised in collaboration with the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) with support from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Abbas said that the house is ready to engage development partners to provide targeted capacity programmes for members and staff

“Capacity building is a major motivation for productivity in any establishment. It is my avowed commitment to ensure that capacity building is a major hallmark of my tenure as speaker not only for staff but also for members of the House of the Representatives.

“I want to take this opportunity to urge you to take every opportunity for training very seriously; the success of any establishment is dependent on the capacity and output of the drivers of that office.

“Today, you are the face of the speaker’s office. You are the ones that members and visitors interface with in the office of the Speaker.

“Your conduct, your disposition, your relationship with people, and the way you attend to the public represents the image of the office of the speaker.

“Therefore, you must continuously learn the code of ethics and public service rules in engaging yourselves in the course of discharging your responsibilities,” he said.

The speaker commended PLAC for the sponsorship and for many other interventions they have rendered to the house over the years.

Earlier in his remarks, the Executive Director of PLAC, Mr Clement Nwankwo, said the country is faced with many challenges.

He said that there is a need to support the aides study the challenges and help the speaker respond to citizens’ questions and demands at this critical time.

He said the aim is having a legislature that understands the challenges citizens face and respond to support citizens on the issues.

He said the effort was to get the parliament to respond to what citizens are asking for and to ensure more transparency in the legislature.

He said some of the demands include making laws that respond well to citizens’ demands and for National Assembly to carry out oversight roles better and be able to represent citizens.