The Clerk to the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, on Monday in Abuja said misconception of legislature’s role often created wrong expectations and discontent from the citizenry.
Sani-Omolori, who was represented by Deputy Clerk, House of Representatives (Legislative), said this at the 2018 Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre Legislative Internship Programme with support from the European Union.
He said: “Without doubt, the legislative branch of government in Nigeria is the least understood by the citizens in terms of functions, mission, processes and procedures.
“This is largely as a result of the long years of military intervention; this misconception in turn results in high turnover of legislators in every electoral cycle.
“It is therefore our collective duty to step-up public enlightenment and education in this regard.’’
Sani-Omolori said that the management of National Assembly was concerned with improving the legislature, and encouraged the youths to observe parliamentary business, at the plenary and the committee sessions.
He said that the assembly was presently upgrading its websites to make it more interactive and user-friendly for all, adding that the task of lawmaking was too important to be left entirely in the hands of the lawmakers.
He said that in this time of national transformation, Nigerian institutions ought to sustain the trust and confidence of the people in order to realise the shared aspiration.
The clerk said that the assembly had endorsed the Not-Too-Young-To-Run campaign to create platforms for developing and empowering youths to fully realise their potential to favourably compete for elections.
According to him, this is because leaders need to imbue in youths a sense of hope, self-confidence, creativity and discipline in the nation’s heritage and the ideals of the nation.
The Deputy Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Chukwuka Onyema, commended the EU and PLAC for exposing the youths to the dealings of the National Assembly.
Onyema said that it was a wonderful thing to be preparing the youths for the future, adding that it was time for them to contest for elective positions to enable to lead.
He said: “I urge the youths to stand up and be counted; you don’t sit down and allow anybody put you down; of course, there is the challenge of unemployment and empowerment that is no fault of yours.
“It is a failure on the part of the government which I am a part of; so, I accept that it is a failure of the government that is affecting the youths.
“Some of the people in government now are between 75 years and 80 years and some have served at one time or the other in their states.
“Now, if you don’t give the youths the opportunity how will they excel? Youths are not lazy; the only lazy ones are those that have refused to get their voter cards to say ‘yes we can do it’.’’
The Executive Director of PLAC, Clement Nwankwo, in his remarks, said that the centre, with support from EU, organised the 10-week legislative internship programme for 37 youths selected across the 36 states.
Nwankwo said that the programme was designed to provide a platform for young professionals to develop their skills while serving with legislative offices in the National Assembly.
He said that it was aimed at providing opportunity for youths to gain first-hand knowledge of the workings of the legislature and to create an opportunity to increase citizens’ participation in governance.
He said the programme was also aimed at encouraging youths to acquire skills they could apply in their chosen careers and future experiences and to create greater understanding and appreciation of the assembly.
Nwankwo explained that this was because the legislature was a defining institution in any democracy due to its responsibility for the performance of several critical functions.
He said: “Yet ironically, most citizens especially youths, remain unaware of its significance and fail to participate in important legislative processes such as initiating bills, dialogue and monitoring of programmes.
“Thus, the legislative internship programme allows youths to be involved in the work of the legislature to create greater public understanding and appreciation of the Nigerian legislature to enable it achieve its goal.’’
One of the trainees, Okpede Fidelis, commended PLAC for the initiative, and said that he learnt a lot about the work of the legislature as against what he thought it was.
Fidelis said that he had understood the administrative and political structure of the assembly, especially how bills, motions and policy-drafting, were done.
He encouraged other youths to expose themselves to the workings of the legislature.
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