The Acting clerk of the National Assembly, Sani Tambuwal, has assured the assembly legislative aides of meeting their demands in remuneration.

“I will work hard to meet your demands. The National Assembly under my leadership is highly committed to the welfare of both staff and legislative aides,” he said.

He gave the assurance in Abuja at the 2022 induction/orientation programme for legislative aides to senators and members of the House of Representatives.

The event was organised by the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) with the theme “Basic Lawmaking Processes and Procedures for Effective and Efficient Legislative Aides Performance”.

In his remarks, Mr Tambuwal, who underscored the role of legislative aides in lawmaking, said that he would ensure that effort would be made to address their welfare.

“I will work assiduously to ensure that all demands you are pursuing with the Federal Ministry of Finance, in the shortest period, will be realised.

“I want to assure you that with the support of the management of the National Assembly, I will ensure that you have an environment conducive for working to discharge your responsibility effectively.”

The acting clerk also said the workshop was timely and apt, taking into consideration and understanding the basis of law-making processes and procedures which was among the core roles of legislative aides in the legislature.

“Let me express my appreciation for the good work the commission has been doing to support the National Assembly toward delivering its mandate.

“This is because a lot has been achieved not only in the area of training legislative aides but also in the recruitment, promotion and disciplining of the staff in the national assembly.

“Let me assure the commission of our unflinching loyalty and commitment to effectively serve legislators and the good people of Nigeria in the discharge of our duty.

“I hope and pray that at the end of the induction, the National Assembly will witness a great improvement in the services toward better legislative processes, procedures and democratic development of Nigeria,” he said.

NASC executive chairman, Ahmed Amshi, said that the commission had, over time, taken the issue of training and retraining to develop the capacity of staff and personal aides to lawmakers.

“This is because we have the belief that in law-making, it is not the lawmakers that always prepare the laws, it is you, aides, that prepare everything for the lawmakers.

“The lawmakers are so busy. They hardly have time to go through the laws, it is you, the legislative aides that have to go through every process of law making.

“This is to enable your principals to be equipped to stand in the assembly and deliberate on the processes of law-making in the assembly,” he observed.

Hannatu Ibrahim, one of the staff and the acting chairperson, Training for National Assembly Legislative Aides (NASLAF), said that the training would enable them to perform their duties effectively.

She also appealed to the management of the National Assembly to ensure that issues of staff welfare were given priority.

(NAN)