NILDS as Capacity-Builder for Federal Legislators, Others

Udora Orizu writes that the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), in over a decade has provided required support services for federal lawmakers and other key players in the legislative process, the most striking of which is capacity-building for them.

History cum mandates of NILDS

As obtainable in most democracies,  after the advent of the fourth republic in May, 1999 and take off of the 4th National Assembly (NASS), the need for a capacity-building institution for elected federal lawmakers and support staff,   arose with establishment of  Policy Analysis and Research Project (PARP), in 2003 which later metamorphosed into full fledge Institute in March, 2011.

The Institute then known as National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS), as an organ of the National Assembly, was  established by an Act of Parliament signed into law on the 2nd of March 2011 by President Goodluck Jonathan through a bill passed to that effect by the 6th National Assembly.

Scope of operations of the Institute later  got widened with approval of establishment of new Department of Democratic Studies as well as a Department for Post Graduate Studies by its Governing Council which eventually got the seal of Law on January 26th, 2018, through signing  of  National Institute for Legislative Studies Act  (Amendment ) Bill  2017 by President Muhammadu Buhari with attendant  transformation into National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies ( NILDS).

Prior to name transformation from NILS to NILDS in 2018, the Institute had in 2013,  commenced its postgraduate programmes in affiliation with the University of Benin on courses centering on  Legislative Drafting,  Parliamentary Administration, Legislative Studies, Elections and Party Politics etc ,  the scope of which has expanded ever since  and even aiming at awarding Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degrees in the area of Legislative Studies and Parliamentary Administration.

Functions of the Institute to the National Assembly  right from take off in March 2011, are similar to the services offered to the US congress by Congressional Research Service, Congressional Budget Office and  Library of Congress  driven by core objectives of providing quality academic and professional research, policy analysis, training, documentation and advocacy on democratic governance and legislative practice  and procedures.

Amendment on its Act in 2018, generally enables NILDS  to provide capacity development services to democratic Institutions and governance in Nigeria and beyond which has been leveraged upon within the last 40 months  under the leadership of Professor Abubakar Olanrewaju Sulaiman as Director – General.

Emphasis on Capacity – Building /  widening of Scope under Professor Sulaiman

As one of its core mandates , NILDS had right from establishment in 2011, made capacity – building one of the services rendered to federal lawmakers and various categories of bureaurats at the National Assembly  right from the time of Professor Ladi Hamalai who  served as Director – General from 2011 to 2019.

Gratifyingly, within  the last 40 months of Director – Generalship of Professor Abubakar Olanrewaju Sulaiman in NILDS, scope of capacity – building services has been widened, by not only extending it to elected members of State Houses of Assemblies and other parliamentary workers but also to parliamentarians within the Africa continent.

A very good example of widening of such scope was the  two-day capacity – building workshop organized recently by NILDS and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung ( KAS),  for journalists covering both the Senate and the House of Representatives in Abuja.

At the workshop,  Professor Sulaiman posited:  “The role of media in democracy goes beyond informing the public of the issues that shape their lives to providing spaces for an informed and inclusive public debate and an outlet for the voices and perspectives of citizens, including marginalised ones. Consequently, one of the most important roles the media can play is that of building consensus.

“This is even more critical given the divisive nature of our politics, which has been characterised by antagonism, deliberate propagation of falsehood, ethnic and religious inclinations, and attacks against persons rather than focusing on issues. These issues have combined to inflame an already fragile polity further.

“Regrettably, the ethics and professionalism of the media in Nigeria have been seriously questioned. Some of the issues of concern include sensationalism of news which predominantly appeals to emotions. In our context, this has taken several forms, including exaggeration of facts to get high ratings or more subscriptions and the use of ‘clickbait’ headlines to boost sales, especially on social media and online platforms. Other manifestations include poor quality of reports, often lacking in depth.

“It is well known that media practitioners in Nigeria often do not possess the appropriate background or education to become professional journalists. Most lack opportunities to obtain quality training to develop their skills. As a result, many journalists simply train on the job.

“Furthermore, the image and perception of the Nigerian media have been undermined by the lack of necessary investigative capacity, which is critical to unveiling issues of importance to the public and holding government officials to account.

“In the case of the National Assembly, poor coverage over the years has contributed to the negative perception of the parliament by citizens. Such misperceptions are often echoed by the press in a way that tends to set the people against their elected representatives.

“The numerous challenges facing the Nigerian media underscore the need for continuous capacity development for media personnel and members of the National Assembly press corps.

“While the government is responsible for providing an enabling environment for the media to flourish, media agencies have an equal obligation to deliver adequate structures and resources and the organisational capacity required for the press to operate”.

Aside capacity-building workshops organized from time to time for  lawmakers and other key players in the polity, NILDS under the leadership of Professor Abubakar Sulaiman, has also within the last 40 months effected results – driven actions on  ‘Policy Work’ , another critical component of its mandate.

In doing this,  it  has carried out annual budget analysis for the National Assembly,  spearheaded the law reform efforts of the federal parliament and provided well researched publications which are designed to supply legislators with accurate, timely and relevant information to aid their legislative functions. One of such  publications is  “ A Century of Lawmaking in Nigeria” .

Agenda setting for the Nation

Being an Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, NILDS has since 2021, been enriching national discourse  through Public Lectures with very apt topic or subject matter .

The first of such lectures, was the one held in December last year with the theme :  “The Legislature, Legislative Mandate and People – The Reality and the Public Perception “ which was delivered by the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan.

Second of it was the commemorative lecture on Nigeria’s Democratic Experience held on 14th of June this year which had  the Speaker of the House of Representatives , Hon Femi Gbajabiamila as guest speaker.

The latest in the series of such national agenda setting and public discourse  shapping fora was the “High Level Forum on Political Communication and Issues – Based Campaigns in the 2023 General Elections”, held on the 19th of September, 2022 for relevant stakeholders who all  implored Nigerian electorates to jettison sentiments  in voting for whatever candidates of their choice for whatever positions.

Obviously,  Nigeria and Nigerians, would have felt the positive impacts of NILDS more,  as far as deepening of democratic ethos cum values  are concerned, were it to be operating from its permanent site along the Airport Road in Abuja , which is far more conducive than the temporary site it has been operating from since 2011.

Nevertheless, from  NILDS  it has been capacity – building at all times for all stakeholders towards effective and efficient service delivery and invariably good governance in the country.