Ahead of the inauguration of the eighth Assembly, the Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Aniekan Bassey, has tasked all members-elect to strive towards achieving excellent productivity and true representation.
He urged them to see their emergence as a God-given opportunity to be of service to their respective constituents.
Bassey stated this while declaring the opening of a three-day orientation workshop organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies for elected House members held in Lagos.
This was contained in a statement made available to our correspondent in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state by the Press Unit of the Assembly on Monday.
“May I intimate you that the work of a legislator is peculiar and as well challenging in many respects because of the strategic duties of lawmaking, oversight and representation among others that are domiciled in the legislature. Therefore, the importance of this orientation workshop, which is designed to introduce members-elect of the 8th Assembly to the rudiments of legislative practice and procedures, cannot be overemphasised,” the Speaker was quoted in the statement.
While urging members-elect to give the workshop their best, the Speaker attributed his many successes in the legislature to the positive impact of legislative training he has attended over the years.
The statement added, “Today, I am serving as the Vice Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures in Nigeria, Chairman of the South-South Speakers Forum and as an Executive Committee Member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Africa Region. These could not have been possible but for the training I enjoyed.”
He further urged them to form a collective front with the executive and the judiciary for the progress of Akwa Ibom State and pray for them to further make use of the gains of the workshop and legislate towards the actualisation of the Akwa Ibom project.”
In his remarks, the Director General of NILDS, Prof Abubakar Sulaiman, while congratulating the new members on their successes at the just concluded elections, stressed the importance of the workshop, adding that the legislature is an arm of government with unique rules of proceedings, language, tools of operations as well as well-established practice and procedures.”
“The legislature has over 111 powers in the 1999 Constitution and its Schedules. This short orientation workshop will give you a cursory overview of your powers, privileges, immunities and the limitations in exercising these powers. In order to be effective, you must apply yourselves to understanding these basic principles and rules,” he said.
