From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Chairman, National Assembly Service Commission ( NASC), Ahmed Kadi-Amshi, has said that a well trained bureaucracy is critical to the task of making quality laws by the parliament.
Kadi-Amshi stated this, in Abuja, while speaking at a capacity building workshop with theme: ‘Enhancing capacity in Legislative services’ organised by management of National Assembly in collaboration with SAHL Human Resources, for clerks in the House of Representatives. He noted that it will be difficult for lawmakers to make good laws without the support of legislative staff.
The NASC Chairman , represented by the Commissioner representing North East, Abubakar Tutare, said well trained legislative staff will be of immense benefit to the country, because of the critical roles they play in lawmaking.
According to him, “where we are in National Assembly is where laws are made for the country; there laws are made by elected politicians who may or may not have the knowledge or expertise of lawmaking.
“For them to be successful, they will need your (Legislative support staff) contribution and guidance and so the need the necessary training in law drafting for good governance is very necessary. National Assembly Service Commission will at all times, give support to issues of staff training to develop capacity.”
Similarly, Clerk of the House of Representatives, Yahaya Danzaria, while speaking at the event, explained that the 3-day capacity training was aimed at ensuring optimum performance and productivity.
Danzaria said : “in the legislature, capacity building is the process of developing and strengthening the skills of officers that the legislative institution needed survive and compete favourably with other parliaments across the globe.
“Today is the beginning of another three-day workshop focusing on ‘Enhancing capacity for legislative services’. This workshop targets the core legislative officers in the areas of Chamber Services, Table Duties, Rules and Business, Legislative Scrutiny and Committee System, among others.
“We are of the view that apart from the general training in Legislative Practice and Procedure which accommodates every staff of the legislature, there is need to focus on those key and peculiar areas of legislative activities that only trained officers have the capacity to handle.”