The National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) has pledged to equip legislative aides with the required skills to enhance the operations of the 10th Assembly.

The director-general, NILDS, Abubakar Sulaiman, said this on Monday at the opening of a three-day workshop organised by the institute for 300 legislative aides in Abuja.

Mr Sulaiman said the primary responsibility of legislative aides was to provide support services for legislators.

“The institute is determined to train and equip legislative aides with the required technical skills to enhance efficiency in the National Assembly.

“In this 10th Assembly, the institute is determined to surpass the record in the 9th Assembly, where we trained over 3000 legislative aides.

“I therefore urge you to pay attention and take notes, as the workshop has been designed to ensure that you gain fresh insights on how best to support the work of your legislator and, by extension, the legislature,” he said.

The DG said the training would be in batches and solicited the support of all stakeholders to enable the institute to achieve its mandate.

In his remarks, the clerk of the National Assembly, Sani Tanbuwal, said as legislative aides, it was important to be very conversant with legislative practices and procedures.

The clerk said the capacity-building programme was designed to equip the aides with the knowledge and skills required for their job.

“As you are aware, the legislature is the mainstay of any democracy; universally, its role is to make laws, exercise representation, and conduct oversight of the executive arm through its elected representatives.

“Accomplishing these broad and tripartite functions is indeed a huge and overwhelming task; legislators cannot achieve it alone, unless with the support of others.

“It is against this background that we hired you to bridge this gap by offering proactive support services, thereby simplifying the legislator’s job.

“On that note, I urge you all to put in your best and leverage on the skills and knowledge acquired from this three-day programme to enhance the discharge of your duties to the legislators and the National Assembly at large,” he said.

(NAN)