Delta State Assembly Trains Legislative Aides to Boost Productivity

The Delta State House of Assembly has began a three-day workshop for legislative aides to lawmakers with a view to enhancing their productivity.

Declaring the workshop opened on Thursday, the Speaker, Mr Dennis Guwor, said the programme would serve the dual purposes of orientation and capacity building of aides.

He recalled that the 8th Assembly,  inaugurated on June 13, 2023, immediately hit the ground running.

He stated that in order to balance the take off speed by the assembly by way of robust support services, appointments of legislative aides were also approved for members of the House.

Guwor, emphasising the role of legislative aides in lawmaking process, said that they were meant to provide support services to the lawmakers.

He reiterated that legislative aides were cornerstones meant to provide support services to members.

”Some of the areas of support expected of you are legislative/legal research, drafting of Bills and Motions, writing of speeches, and arranging Constituency meetings.

“Other areas are liaising with constituents on behalf of lawmakers, preparing debates for members, coordinating their schedules and other duties that may be assigned to you from time to time.

”It is therefore a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to this very strategic workshop tagged, ‘The Role of Legislative Aides In Enhancing Members’ Productivity In State Legislature’.

”This workshop is very dear to my heart, because it is the first time legislative aides to members are formally coming together to undergo tutelage in legislative practice and procedures.

”Granted, some of you may have one or two experiences in legislative practice, but, society is dynamic, and knowledge in a particular field is always evolving; better approaches and ways of doing things are constantly evolving,” he said.

The speaker therefore urged the participants to give the workshop the seriousness it deserved.

Earlier, the Clerk of the Assembly, Mr Otto Aghoghophia commended the speaker and the leadership of the house for providing the opportunity to train and enhance the skills of the legislative aides.

Aghoghophia noted that the essence of the training was to take the aides through the rudiments of the internal workings of the Assembly.

”The legislature is different, the Bible, the ethnics of the legislature is different and a lot of things from the legislature are unlike the executive arm.

”This workshop will enable the participants undergo the internal workings of the legislature so that they can come up with speed in rendering their support to members, ” he said.

The Executive Chairman and the Lead Consultant, African Parliamentary Resource Centre, Dr John Mutu emphasised that legislative aides play very pivotal role in the development of the legislature.

He stressed the need to empower the legislative aides with a view to enable them effectively perform their roles

He noted that the training would help to provide them with the needed relevant skills.

NAN/Confidence Okwuchi