Senate President, Bukola Saraki has tasked National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS) on competent research training in the successful discharge of its duties.

Saraki disclosed this at the second matriculation and fellowships investiture ceremony for the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 postgraduate programme of 99 students into the Institute in collaboration with University of Benin (UNIBEN).

He said: “This event, with all of its traditions and ceremony, is a time to celebrate the Legislature and the National Institute for Legislative Studies. It is a time to renew our commitment to excellence in law making and the strengthening of democratic governance.

“The postgraduate programmes of the Institute seeks to imbue staff of the National Assembly with the requisite skills needed to shape and direct national policy. This is critical and indeed essential if legislators are to benefit from timely, digestible and accurate outputs.”

Saraki said the programme presented legislators and other stakeholders a unique and cost-effective opportunity to build their capacities in relevant areas without spending much time away from their work.

In his speech, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, decried the dearth of legislative aides with high-level technical capacity had hampered robust legislative debates in Nigeria.

He said for legislators to perform their legislative and oversight functions effectively, they ought to be adequately equipped to plan their work schedule.

He further stated that the legislative arm of government required increased resource competence to keep the government accountable for its actions.

According to him, the work of legislators is often enabled by the institutional structures and support provided by the legislature.

“Key in this regard is the quality and numbers of administrative and parliamentary personnel. Like most of the emerging parliaments in Africa, the National Assembly requires better equipped and resourced aides with the requisite competences and expertise in order compete favourably with parliaments in established democracies.

“In Nigeria, the legislature needs reliable information to understand the choices, decisions and policies of the Executive Branch,” he said.