The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, on Friday, assured that the National Assembly would continue to support the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) to achieve it’s fundamental goals for the country.
Akpabio gave the assurance in Abuja, during a symposium held in honour of the Director General of the National Institutte for Legislative and Democratic Studies, on the theme, titled, “reflecting on six years of impact”.
Represented by Senator Victor Umeh (Labour Party, Anambra Central), Akpabio noted that the National Legislative and Democratic Institute is a place where the skills of the lawmakers are developed and they go there to understand basic symbols of lawmaking.
Umeh, while speaking on behalf of the President of the Senate and the entire National Assembly, explained that the leadership and member of the apex legislative Assembly, went to Lagos on Thursday, to mark the second year anniversary of the administration of President Bola Tinibu.
His words: “Yesterday, the 29th of May, marks the second year anniversary of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinibu. And to that extent and reason, the National Assembly moved to Lagos yesterday. The Senate President, the Speaker, and all our principal officers are in Lagos.
“I am standing in now to speak on behalf of the National Assembly. One, as a member of the Governing Council of this institute. And two, because I have known Professor Abubakar Sulaiman and have worked with him in the Council, I know him as a gentleman, as somebody who is very knowledgeable.
“Apart from being a professor of Political Science, his attitude to interpersonal relationships remains very commendable. He is somebody who we have found to be very resilient, very dogged and committed in trying to make something out of nothing.
“This institute has turned it around. But anytime you drive into these premises, you know that you are walking into an ambience of a citadel of learning. Where people are developed, minds of people are developed. And for us in the Legislature, this place is a place where the skills of our lawmakers are developed. You come here, you understand basic symbols of lawmaking. And once you follow the guides and the lectures they give, and the tutorials they give, you turn out to be a good lawmaker.
“So the purpose of setting up this institute is very well realized under his leadership. That is why I am here. All of you in this symposium that is being put in place is an honour to reflect over his six years of leadership of this institute. Prof, we are very proud of you. The National Assembly is very proud of you. I therefore, bring the good message of the entire leadership of the National Assembly to this symposium. We are honoured.
“We congratulate you and will continue doing those things that make this institute a citadel of learning. I don’t want to compete with the guest speaker. He has told us everything that we need to listen to, to get inspired and get redirected as a nation. It’s a great lecture.
“I know you are a motivational speaker and I know that you are a repository of so much knowledge. Because you have worked hard, you have researched, you have looked at nations. You have looked at all models and you have put your thoughts together in a manner that those of us who are Nigerians should be able to draw very good lessons from your own thoughts.
“Activists are one of the angels and Catslysts of change. So everybody should be an activist in this country, if must break through to our problems. So I draw my own lessons from all the things you have also said. I’ve heard all these things before.”
Umeh stressed on the need for the country to embrace visionary and inspirational leadership, pointing that these attributes in governance made the difference between Dubai and Nigeria.
He said: “Dubai, I just came back from Dubai on 19th of April. And I can say that Dubai is a marvel. But Dubai shares a lot with us. They have oil. We discovered oil first in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State, in the Niger Delta, in 1956.
“Dubai discovered oil in 1966; ten years after. Ten years apart. And because of what you have spoken here about visionary leadership and inspiration in governance, and what we are going to discuss about Sulaiman, the place is some miles ahead. The things you see there are like fantasies.
“We are trying to stop that guess about Nigeria’s population through our upcoming census. We want to know really how many people are Nigerians in the upcoming census. So everybody should prepare for that because if you don’t know how many people you are, the make-up of your population, you cannot know how many people are Nigerians.
