As the Ogun State House of Assembly begins a-three day post inauguration induction training, the State lawmakers have been tasked to take advantage of the sessions to sharpen their skills and prepare themselves for the task of building the future of the State.
The State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, represented by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Olakunle Oluomo, gave the admonition, while declaring open the training programme titled: “Understanding Critical Governance and Legislative Processes, Practices and Procedure in the House for Effective Service Delivery”, at the Ogere Resort, Ogere Remo, Ogun State.
Governor Abiodun noted that the State was known for the promotion of high level of professionalism, competence and quality participation in all areas of endeavours; hence the need for the lawmakers to always take advantage of any training programme become better legislators and contribute their quota to the development of the State.
According to him, for the State to retain its pride of place among the comity of States in the country, the lawmakers needed to undergo rigorous trainings on their constitutional role as a critical arm in a democracy.
Stressing that such human capacity development programme for lawmakers was essential for the promotion of mutual interdependence with the executive arm, the State helmsman noted that quality service delivery could only be achieved with a highly trained legislature which was part of the major responsibilities of government.
Earlier in his presentation, the Executive Director, Center for Legislative Advancement and Support, Prof. Jerry Ugbokwe, explained that the training would not only make the lawmakers better individuals, it would make them to be grounded in all their legislative functions.
Prof. Ugbokwe said the nation’s democracy could only be developed and nurtured when the lawmakers that represented the major arm in a democracy were abreast of the best legislative practices that would shape the political scenes for the better.
He counselled them to drop party affiliations for the overall socio-economic development and progress of their constituencies and the State.
The lawmakers were taking through presentations from experts on legislative matters with various papers on “Agenda Setting and Understanding Legislative Functions, Understanding the Committee System and Oversight Process, the Budget and Appropriation Process”, amongst others.
