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Tag: NILDS

  • NILDS trains 700 National Assembly staff

    NILDS trains 700 National Assembly staff

    The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) has commenced the training of 700 staff as part of a major capacity-building drive to strengthen the professionalism and effectiveness of National Assembly staff.

    Speaking at the opening of a three-day workshop in Abuja, NILDS Director-General Professor Abubakar Sulaiman said effective legislative work depends not only on elected lawmakers but equally on a competent and principled bureaucratic workforce.

    “The success of any legislature depends not solely on the elected representatives, but equally on the efficiency, competence, and professionalism of the bureaucratic structure that supports them,” Sulaiman said.

    He described the training series, which runs from October to December 2025, as a practical programme that blends conceptual frameworks with comparative best practice to improve performance across the Assembly.

    The NILDS chief urged participants to engage actively with facilitators,

    a mix of scholars and practitioners, and to return to their posts as “ambassadors of excellence” who drive legislative quality and better governance for Nigerians.

    He said the training modules would cover lawmaking and legislative drafting, official reporting, library and information management, financial management, procurement, audit and compliance, pensions, research and publication, and office management.

    He said that NILDS expects more than 700 National Assembly staff from diverse departments to participate over the October–December cycle.

     Sulaiman commended Senate President Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio and Speaker Abbas Tajudeen for their support of the Institute’s programmes, saying their leadership has been pivotal in prioritising institutional capacity development.

    Representing the Clerk to the National Assembly, Barrister Kamoru Ogunlana, Deputy Clerk Bashir Yero urged participants to take the training seriously and to uphold integrity in public service.

    “Capacity without character threatens institutional integrity,” Yero warned, calling on staff to combine professional competence with the highest ethical standards in the discharge of their duties.

    Ogunlana praised the partnership with NILDS, saying the collaboration demonstrates a shared commitment to building a modern, efficient and accountable legislative bureaucracy.

    His endorsement, delivered through the Deputy Clerk, underscored the National Assembly leadership’s backing for sustained staff development and institutional renewal.

  • 10th National Assembly not a rubber stamp, says NILDS DG

    10th National Assembly not a rubber stamp, says NILDS DG

    Director General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Prof. Abubakar Suleiman, has refuted claims that the 10th National Assembly is a rubber-stamp legislature, asserting that lawmakers are effectively carrying out their constitutional roles while maintaining a cooperative relationship with the executive.

    Speaking during a television interview, Prof. Suleiman described the rubber-stamp label as “unfair and simplistic,” arguing that a lack of open confrontation with the presidency does not equate to subservience.

    “When this National Assembly came on board in June 2023, they made it clear they would work with the executive without chaos or friction,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean they’ve blindly endorsed everything from the presidency. There have been instances of disagreement.”

    He emphasised that the performance of lawmakers should be judged by their execution of core legislative functions—lawmaking, oversight, and representation—not by how frequently they oppose the executive.

    “To me, what is fundamental is not whether the executive tries to determine what the legislature does,” he said. “What is important is to see the extent to which the legislature supports the executive in making sure that the dividends of democracy reach the Nigerian people. Whether they have been able to make laws that matter, whether they have carried out oversight, and whether they have represented their constituents well. Those should be our priorities as citizens.”

    He said it is unrealistic to expect a completely detached legislature in a developing democracy like Nigeria.

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    “We are a developing country. We cannot have a completely detached National Assembly from the executive,” he said. “We know the power of the President. We know the power of the governors. What we observe is a kind of interwoven and overlapping mandate between the arms of government. That is not necessarily a weakness. It is the reality of our political system.”

    Prof. Suleiman urged Nigerians to focus on evaluating the impact of the Assembly’s work on issues like insecurity, food security and economic reforms rather than labelling it a rubber stamp.

    “Our assessment should be based on whether they are delivering good governance,” he said. “How do we address insecurity? How do we deal with starvation, joblessness, taxation, health care and education? Those are the questions that matter, not rubber-stamp labels.”

  • S’South wins NILDS’ national quiz competition

    S’South wins NILDS’ national quiz competition

    It was jubilation on Monday for students and teachers of Enitona High School, Port Harcourt, Rivers State who emerged winners of the 9th edition of the “National Quiz Competition on Legislature and Democracy for Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria.”

    The grand finale of the competition was organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), a parastatal under the National Assembly.

    Schools from the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) participated in the competition with six schools making it to the grand finale comprising the six geopolitical zones.

    Vetland Senior Grammar School, Ifako Ijaiye, Lagos State represented the South-West; Bishop Otubelu Juniorate, Trans-Ekulu, Enugu represented the South-East; Enitona High School, Port Harcourt represented the South-South; School for the Gifted, Gwagwalada, Abuja, represented the North-Central; Jigawa Academy for the Gifted, Bamaina, represented the North-West; while Helena Heritage Academy, Jalingo, Taraba State represented the North-East.

    At the end of the competition, students of Enitona High School, who represented the South-South, scored 70 points to emerge the winners.

    They were followed in the second position by students of the School for the Gifted, Gwagwalada, who recorded 65 points.

    The third position went to the students of Bishop Otubelu Juniorate, Enugu, that scored 55 points.

    The aim of the competition, which is keenly contested annually by participants, according to NILDS, is to provide continued education to students on the history of the legislature, its practices and relevance to democratic governance in Nigeria.

    Speaking at the session, NILDS’ Director-General, Prof. Abubakar Suleiman, said he was particularly elated over this year’s edition because of the competitive spirit of students drawn from public and private schools, across the states to the zonal and national segments.

    He observed that public schools continued to come tops in major knowledge-based competitions in the country despite the neglect and decay they suffered.

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    Sulaiman said: “We can see that public schools are still not doing badly.

    “Our hope relies on the public schools and we must do everything possible to bring back the lost glory of our public schools.”

    He also noted that girls were giving the boys a tough time, as three girls and six boys made it to this year’s grand finale, in addition to the all-girl finalists at the 2023 edition.

    “I am impressed. We have 12 students at this finale. Out of the number six are girls. It means that whatever men can do, women can also do it.

    “Among the participants, from the North-Central, we had a lady who did very well, and from the South-East, another performed very well.

    “That is to say that we should do everything possible to assist our female children”, the DG added.

    The participants received various gifts, including laptops, cash and certificates.

    For the winning school, the students will each get a scholarship to cover their university education tuition.

    Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, sent goodwill messages to encourage the participants and to commend NILDS for its research efforts.

  • NILDS’ DG mourns

    NILDS’ DG mourns

    The director general of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Professor Abubakar Sulaiman, has expressed shock and sadness over the passing of the Chairman of Capital Oil Group, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah.
    Ubah, who represented Anambra South and served as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream until his death, was commended for his selflessness in the National Assembly.
    Sulaiman described the late senator as a dedicated and committed public servant, a perfect gentleman, and a silent achiever.

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    The NILDS director general noted that Ubah’s untimely passing would be deeply felt by those he represented, his colleagues, the National Assembly, and NILDS.
    He prayed for his soul to rest in peace and for God to grant strength to his loved ones during this difficult time.

  • NILDS’ director general mourns Ifeanyi Ubah

    NILDS’ director general mourns Ifeanyi Ubah

    Professor Abubakar Sulaiman, the director general of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), expressed deep shock and sadness at the passing of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, the chairman of Capital Oil Group, on Saturday, July 27.

    Sulaiman extended his condolences to the deceased’s family, friends, the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who has lost an illustrious member of the Senate, the entire National Assembly, as well as the government, and the people of Anambra State.

    Senator Ubah, who represented Anambra South senatorial district and served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream until his passing, was recognized for his commendable service in the National Assembly.

    Professor Sulaiman described him as a dedicated and committed public servant, a perfect gentleman, and a silent achiever.

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    He noted that his untimely passing would be deeply felt by those he represented, his colleagues, the National Assembly, and NILDS.

    He prayed for his soul to rest in peace and for God to grant strength to his loved ones during this difficult time.

  • NILDS: Nigeria’s Cambridge, Harvard, says Akpabio

    NILDS: Nigeria’s Cambridge, Harvard, says Akpabio

    …rates legislative institute high

    Senate president and chairman of the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) governing council, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has drawn a parallel between the institute, Cambridge and Harvard Universities.

    During his visit to the state-of-the-art Institute on Friday, according to a statement by the Institute, Akpabio commended Prof. Abubakar O. Sulaiman, the director-general of NILDS, for the institute’s impressive facilities and its significant potential contributions to Nigerian democracy.

    “With this infrastructure, Nigerians no longer need to travel overseas for legislative training. This is our own Cambridge and Harvard,” Akpabio said.

    At the event, Prof. Sulaiman unveiled NILDS’ latest publication, “25 Years of Democracy and Development in Nigeria,” which features a foreword by the President of the Senate.

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    The publication chronicles Nigeria’s democratic journey and development since 1999.

    Accompanying him were Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Senator Osita Ngwu, Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, and Senator Adetokunbo Abiru.

    In a similar development, the speaker of the ECOWAS parliament, Rt. Hon. Maimounatou Ibrahima visited NILDS to seek the institute’s assistance in the capacity development of parliamentarians and their support staff. 

    The DG, Prof. Sulaiman assured her of the Institute’s readiness to provide its services to the ECOWAS parliament, emphasising their commitment to the advancement and overall well-being of the sub-region.

  • NILDS tasks media on legislative oversight reporting

    NILDS tasks media on legislative oversight reporting

    The Director General of National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman has called on media practitioners to focus more attention on the reportage of oversight functions of the parliament.

    This, he said, is with the view to probe and scrutinize the executive arm of government in budget implementation.

    He also called for more funding for members of the National Assembly (NASS) for accountability and transparency in budget monitoring.

    Abubakar gave the charge on Friday in Abuja during a visit by the leadership of Nigeria Union of Journalists ( NUJ ) FCT Correspondents Chapel to the Director General in his office.

    He said journalists are a critical stakeholder in the democracy and have the statutory responsibility and role in keeping Nigerians abreast of the workings of their elected representatives even beyond sitting for the proceedings during the plenary session.

    He said Nigerians have the right to know that the parliamentarians are only charged with the responsibility to make law, oversight and representation but not to physically implement projects like road construction.

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    While lamenting over the difficulties and challenges faced by the standing committees in the National Assembly in carrying out their oversight functions, Abubakar called for more funding of the parliament for effective monitoring of budget implementation by the executive.

    Abubakar said ” There are issues that borders on oversight assignments and i keep saying those issues will not be corrected until we provide more funding for the parliament to do their oversight and that is what Nigerians will not want to hear.

    ” When the parliamentarians are going to oversight Nigerian Port Authority, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian National Petroleum Company ( NNPCL ) and the only vote of budget you could give them is N3million to oversight an agency that will remit trillions and you say they will not be vulnerable, then we are just deceiving ourselves.

    ” When the agencies you are to oversight are the one funding the oversight, then the oversight is dead on arrival”

    He said proper funding of oversight functions of the parliament would ensure accountability and transparency on the part of the committees and would be able to carry out their assignments without fear or favour.

    ” This is where journalists have to come in and interrogate how much is there for the national assembly and state assemblies to perform their functions especially the aspect of oversight and this is the area you can call MDAs to question and account. I think we need to do more”

    The Director General said the institute deals with all human endeavour in the conduct of research and study to enable the parliament to make laws from an informed decisions.

    ” We are talking about capacity building for parliament, for the critical stakeholders in democracy, for us the journalists are key. The history of this country’s independence is not complete without the press. Governance is not complete without the press, ” Abubakar said.

    He said the press is not just a stakeholder but a cornerstone that has been the bridge in giving feedback on what Nigerians are passing through and what the government is doing.

    He expressed the readiness of the institute to partner with NUJ in providing capacity building for journalists even for who are not directly covering the National Assembly.

    On his own part the Chairman of NUJ FCT Correspondents, Comrade Jide Oyekunle commended the Director General of NILDS for his untiring and unrelenting efforts in enriching and deepening the reportorial knowledge and skills of members through periodic capacity building training particularly those covering the National Assembly.

    He said the visit was aimed at bringing to the of the Director-General the need to extend the capacity building to other journalists in various beats, such as the judiciary, finance, crime, energy, health and others in order to acquaint them with the workings of the legislative arm of government.

    “This will go a long way to erase the wrong and negative perception in which Nigerians still harbor about the legislative arm of government particularly the issues surrounding the official vehicles saga” Oyekunle said .