Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Hon Sheriff Oborevwori
By Festus Ahon, Asaba
A two-day capacity building workshop for members and selected key management staff of the Delta State House of Assembly has opened in Asaba with a call on Lawmakers and participants to avail themselves of the opportunity to enhance their work.
The Speaker, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori in a keynote address at the opening ceremony of the workshop, said the importance of training and re-training could not be overemphasized as Legislators.
Oborevwori recalled that as members-elect, the House had in 2019, had the privilege to be engaged by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation, the organizers of the workshop, where a request for more engagements was made.
While saying that the workshop was a follow up to that request as well as another made during a seminar with Speakers of State Houses of Assembly in Abuja, he noted that the gains from that encounter impacted positively in the legislative works of the State House of Assembly.
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He said he is very confident that at the end of the workshop members would have gained lessons that will greatly help to advance their legislative duties.
The Speaker explained that from the topics available in the two-day workshop there was no doubt that they would be very impactful, saying that members of the seventh Assembly would ever remain grateful to the foundation for taking them through such incisive orientation.
The Director-General, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman commended the purposeful leadership of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, saying that the on-going developments in the state confirm the pro-active character of the State House of Assembly.
Sulaiman stressed that there was an increasing need to strengthen the capacity of the legislature at the sub-national level in order to hold the Executive to improve transparency and accountability in governance.
The Director-General appreciated the commitment of the Speaker, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori towards strengthening the institutional capacity of the State House of Assembly in achieving his vision for a robust Assembly.
The Resident Representative of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation, Dr Vladimir Kreck, said the mandate of the foundation was to promote Democratic good governance as well as foster good relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and its host countries.
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Kreck said the foundation believes that the State Houses of Assembly in Nigeria should play a more decisive role in governing their states, hence the reason it has been supporting democratic governance at the state level.
He explained that the foundation would continue to partner with relevant stakeholders, including the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies to elevate its services to a new quality.
Several topics are expected to be addressed at the workshop, including Legislative Agenda and Benchmarking the State Houses of Assembly, Overview of Legislative Practice and Procedures, Committees in the Legislature, Essence, Power of Oversight and Limitations in Budget Tracking, and Financial Autonomy of State Houses of Assembly and Local Government Councils in Budget Management Process.
Others include Management Models of Parliaments and State Houses of Assembly Commission, Civil Society Organization and Public Engagement in the legislative process, Legislative Code of Conduct and Ethics as well as How to improve the Conduct of Members and enforce high ethical standards in the state Houses of Assembly.
