Director-general, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, has tasked the Plateau State House of Assembly to initiate legislative interventions to restore peace in the state.
On Tuesday, Sulaiman opened a five-day training course organised by NILDS for the Plateau State House of Assembly members in Abuja.
He said the legislature is not just one of the three arms of government but the very fulcrum of representative democracy, being the people’s house, mandated to make laws, provide oversight, and represent the collective interests of citizens.
“Plateau is undergoing a series of security challenges; we need peace, stability and harmony. The statement that described Plateau as the state of peace and harmony must be revived.
“It is there, the responsibility of the Plateau State House of Assembly to work with the Executive, security agencies and indeed the federal government to restore normalcy to the state,” he said.
Sulaiman noted that the complexities of modern governance demand that legislators and staff alike be adequately equipped with the right tools, skills, and knowledge.
The NILDS boss said democracy thrives only when legislatures are robust, knowledgeable, and responsive to the people’s needs.
He said the workshop represented a strategic investment in enhancing the assembly’s institutional capacity to perform its constitutional mandate effectively.
“The ever-changing socio-political and economic realities of our nation require adaptive legislatures capable of responding to new challenges.
“This workshop has been carefully designed to address practical issues in lawmaking, legislative procedures, committee work, budget scrutiny, and oversight functions.
“It will also provide a platform for cross-learning, experience-sharing, and reflection on strengthening legislative–executive relations while maintaining institutional independence,” Sulaiman added.
A facilitator at the five-day training, a former speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Hon. Onofiok Luke, called on the lawmakers to deploy the knowledge gained from the engagement to make laws that would make Plateau a tourist destination in the country.
A member of the 9th House of Representatives harped on the need to improve the attainments of the Nigerian legislature, especially in the area of oversight.
“Oversight, we’ve had challenges in oversight in the legislature because of a lack of funding, most times for the legislators and then because of a lack of expertise.
“For instance, you cannot go and oversee a technical area like NNPC, if you don’t have people with the knowledge of oil and gas as support staff of the committee on upstream or downstream.
“You can’t go and oversee a committee on work if you don’t have engineers. So we need to begin looking at recruiting professionals as support staff at the committee level,” he noted.
