The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), has tasked the incoming 10th National Assembly to place Nigeria first in its function of law-making, oversight and representation.
The Director-General, NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman said this at a roundtable tagged “Roundtable Discussion on Agenda Setting for the 10th National Assembly”, on Thursday in Abuja.
Professor Sulaiman said that as the nation was transiting from President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to Bola Tinubu’s administration, the National Assembly was not excluded from the process.
“The leadership of the National Assembly will come up with a legislative agenda that would guide the activities of the red and green chambers in the next four years.
“This roundtable provides an opportunity for harnessing views from invited persons and organisations.
“The views will serve as input to the Legislative Agenda of the 10th National Assembly,” he said.
Professor Sulaiman said that the input from presentations and discussions would be harnessed and transmitted to the relevant committees and offices of the National Assembly for input in the agenda of the 10th NASS.
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero called on the Assembly to be guided by the Provisions of Section 14 of the Constitution.
He urged the National Assembly to be guided by sub-section 1 and 2 which dealt with issues of underlying sovereignty and social justice.
Ajaero said; “Nigeria shall be a state based on the principles of Democracy and Social Justice.”
He, therefore, called for an independent legislature devoid of interference.
Ajaero was represented by the Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, Mr Onyeka Chris.
The Executive Director, LEAD Africa, Mr Yusuff Liadi, called for the implementation of the National Youth Policy.
He said; “The National Youth Policy is very brilliant. We are not feeling much effect of the policy. It is merely a document.
“We call on the national assembly to ensure the implementation of the policy.”
The Director of Programmes, ActionAid, Mrs Suwaiba Muhammad-Dankabo, said there should be a mechanism for feedback on every law passed.
She urged the parliament to ensure the functionality of local government councils as the third tier of government.
The Director, of Agency Banking, OPAY, Mr Abraham Enebe, decried the limited number of bank branches in the country, saying that bank branches could only be found in major cities.
Enebe, however, said that Fintech was trying to ensure that financial services were made accessible to people across the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the country.
He said; “We want to see legislation around that gives our staff incentive or tax exclusion for those who are doing cash-in and cash-out.”
Earlier, Prof. Peter Siyan, the Acting Director, of the Economic and Social Research Department of NILDS, said that the forum aimed at setting an agenda for the 10th Assembly to have a template.
He said; “We are their thinking tank. Issues have been raised concerning labour; diaspora issues and our education system that has witnessed a lot of strikes.
“It was sectorally done.”
VON