The Director General of National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Professor Abubakar O. Sulaiman says the challenges the Nigerian legislature faces can be addressed through sustained capacity development initiatives.
Speaking as a guest lecturer at the University of Ilorin’s Institute for Legislative Studies public lecture on “Fostering Legislative Governance through Capacity Building: Lesson from the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies”, the DG highlighted funding, shortage of experts in the field of public policy and legislative governance, unavailability of legislators for capacity building and high turnover of staff in capacity building Institutions as the major challenges.
Professor Suleiman however, reiterated that despite these gaps, the legislature is faced with limited opportunities for capacity building. Thus, “enhancing access to capacity-building programs for the legislature at the national and subnational levels is critical for enhancing the quality of legislative governance in Nigeria”.
He concluded that a comprehensive and structured approach to capacity building is required to address the specific challenges that the legislative body is facing. An initiative which he says should involve the development of training programs that can enhance the skills and knowledge of members and staff of the legislative body.
