The President of the Senate and Chairman, Governing Council of the
National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS), Dr. Bukola Saraki has
described as a major milestone for the National Assembly, the 2nd
Matriculation and Endowment of Fellowship Award to honour persons who
have contributed significantly to the growth of the legislature and
establishment of the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS).
Addressing both the Post Graduate students being inaugurated and the
Fellows being honored during the ceremony on July 18, 2016 in Abuja,
Saraki asserted that the occasion was one which inspires a renewed sense
of commitment to excellence in lawmaking and the strengthening of
democratic governance in Nigeria.
He
charged the Fellows that the responsibility falls on them to continue to
contribute to the overall development of the legislature as well as
encouraging the Institute in any way possible, as it strives to become a
world class parliamentary think tank institution in the same league as
the Congressional Research Services in the United States of America. He
reiterated that for the legislature to be effective, efficient and
successful, it requires a competent capacity building, research and
training institution. “it is gratifying to see a number of NILS’
postgraduate programs have been duly accredited by the Nigerian
Universities Commission and are unique in the sense that NILS is the
only Institution in Nigeria that offers Master’s Degree and Postgraduate
Diploma in Legislative Studies, Parliamentary Administration and
Legislative Drafting”, he said.
Sen Saraki
tasked the Students for the NILS/UNIBEN Postgraduate Programme to take
their studies seriously, noting that “the courses are equal in rigor and
quality to what is offered at elite institutions in the United Kingdom
and the United States of America.
On his part,
the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Alternate Chairman
of NILS Governing Council, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara posited that “although
legislators are the essential human resource of a legislature, the work
of individual legislators is channeled and enabled by the institutional
structures and support that the legislature provides. Key in this
regard is the quality and numbers of administrative and expert
parliamentary personnel and in view of the complex and challenging
responsibilities of legislators, they are supported by aides with
varying technical expertise and experience.
He
emphasized that the National Assembly requires better equipped and
resourced aides with the requisite competences and expertise in order to
compare favourably with Parliaments in established democracies”, hence,
the need to embrace the Postgraduate Programmes Parliamentary
Administration, Legislative Studies and Legislative Drafting as offered
by the National Institute for Legislative Studies in affiliation with
University of Benin.
The Vice Chancellor of
the University of Benin, Professor Faraday F. Orhunmwense added his
voice to urge the students to make judicious use of the unique learning
opportunity provided by the affiliating reputable Institutions to
acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to better perform their core
functions for improved legislative support to the Legislature.
The
Director General of the Institute, Dr. Ladi Hamalai, while
congratulating the distinguished Personalities who were honoured at the
endowment of fellowship ceremony, solicited for deeper support on their
part in realizing the vision and surpassing the target mission of the
National Institute for Legislative Studies.
Recipients
of the Award of Fellowship of the Institute include the former Senate
President, Sen. David Mark, GCON, Former Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Rt.Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, CFR, Deputy Senate President,
Dr. Ike Ekweremadu, CFR, Former Deputy Speaker,House of Representatives,
on Emeka Ihedioha, CON and Former Deputy Speaker, House of
Representatives between 2007 and 2011, Senator Usman Nafada, CON.
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