Abbas: House Responding to Yearnings of Nigerians

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, has said the 10th House was committed to responding to the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.

The Speaker stated this yesterday in Abuja, and at the meeting were representatives of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), the Department for International Development (DFID), the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), the Civil Society and Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), and International Community on Red Cross (ICRC), among others.

Abbas, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Musa Krishi, noted that it was the first time his office would be having a direct interface with the development partners, adding that the interactive meeting was organised to provide an opportunity to share ideas and updates on your contributions and support to the House on capacity development for members and staff.

“To us as representatives of the people, institution building is the gateway to professionalism, efficiency and productivity. We are committed to ensuring that the 10th House of Representatives can respond to the yearnings and expectations of the citizenry.

“We have been called to serve at the most critical period in the nation’s political history,” the speaker said at a roundtable with development partners of the National Assembly at his office,” he said.

Abbas stressed  that it was only a committed legislature, properly equipped, that would be able to deliver service to meet the expectations of the people.

He added: “One of my cardinal policy thrusts, on assumption of office as Speaker of the House, is capacity development for members and staff of the House of Representatives. This has become more imperative following the high turnover rate of the 10th House of Representatives where we have over two hundred new Members with hundreds of Legislative Aides.

“This number of members and aides requires improved capacity to cope with the offices’ demands. Hence, institutional capacity development is considered one of the priority components of the Legislative Agenda of the 10th House.”

The Speaker said the contributions of the technical partners were partly responsible for the success story of the legislative business of the National Assembly in the past, urging them to do more for the 10th Assembly.