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Rise above party politics, lawmakers urged
13 October 2008
This Day
Lagos: Legislators in the South-south geo-political zone of the country have been urged to rise above petty politics and work for the paramount interest of their constituencies.
This advice was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a one-day capacity building workshop on transparency and accountability in constituency relations for principal officers of constituency officers of National Assembly in the South-south zone at the weekend. The workshop was organised by the Centre for Advanced Social science (CASS), with support from the National Democratic Institute [NDI], in Benin.
The lawmakers were also implored to avoid intra-party politics and god-fatherism that have adversely affected their performance and accountability to the people who voted them into power.
The workshop therefore called on legislators from the zone to as a matter of urgency, establish constituency offices in accessible locations fully equipped and manned by qualified staff, noting that a considerable number of legislators in the zone do not have functional constituency offices.
Deliberations at the workshop which focused on the significance of legislature to the practice of democracy and representative government, said constituency officers have very important roll to play in setting the agenda of legislature, and further advised constituency officers to be proactive in carrying out needed assessment of constituencies in collaboration with civil society groups to generate credible information for good policy and legislations.
“Constituency officers should interface with the media, CSOs, CBOs and community leaders on a regular basis to disseminate information to correct widespread misconceptions about the constitutional roles of the legislature”, the workshop stated.
While recommending the need for more citizen enlightenment programmes to make them aware of their rights to participate in law making and demand for accountability from their elected representatives, the legislators were also told to regularly meet with their constituents to provide reports on their stewardship and solicit citizens’ view on government and programmes.
For the objectives of the training to be achieved, the one-day capacity building workshop recommended similar training for the honourable members who are the prime drivers of the legislative process and urged legislators from fairly large constituencies to employ adequate support staff to enable them reach out to all sections of their constituencies.
Keywords: Nigeria, parliament,
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