Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, Hon Alban Bagbin, yesterday sought for collaboration with the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), an arm of the National Assembly to strengthen Ghana’s legislative institute.
The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, NILDS, is the training arm of Nigeria’s Parliament, the National Assembly.
Bagbin who led the top echelon of the Ghanaian Parliament yesterday in Abuja, met with the leadership of the NILDS and officials of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC).
He said they were in Nigeria to get inputs from the legislative institute to gain effective legislation and governance for Ghana.
Bagbin said, “I want to thank the institute for accepting to share their knowledge. We have already engaged the staff of the NASC; we have learnt a lot from them.
“There is no way we could go back without drinking deep from the fountain of knowledge; we believe that with your extensive experience, not only in research but also in advocacy and impaction of knowledge, we will benefit a lot to assist us strengthen ours in Ghana.
“We have a training institute in Ghana which is a version of NILDS. We have seen there are a lot of gaps, a lot of weaknesses in our institute. We just decided to move out to work closely with our brothers and sisters in Nigeria.
“We want to drink deep from your fountain of knowledge and experience. To see how we could strengthen and improve the standard and services of the parliamentary institute. That is why we are here.”
In his welcome address, director-general NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman said that the key to the survival of democracy in any clime was the legislature.
He said, “It is my hope that this interaction will be an opportunity for the two countries to strengthen their ties in the area of legislative and democratic development.
“I believe the delegation will have a lot to learn from Nigeria considering the similarities in the antecedents of Nigeria and Ghana’s history spanning from the colonial period, to independence, to military interventions and now to stable democracies in both countries.
“Everything must be done to protect the sanctity of the legislature. They must be allowed to learn on the job. There is no perfection in any system. We must nurture the institution of the legislature,” Sulaiman said.
