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Transparency: Legislators, CSOs Form Alliance
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Members of the National Assembly, specifically those at the House of Representatives, have emerged from an interactive forum with civil society groups in Nigeria with a call for more synergy and partnership among the two groups to help promote accountability and transparency at all levels of government in the country. The call, contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the nteractive forum, which took place last week at the National Assembly complex, Abuja, F.C.T.
Above event on Building Legislature and Civil Society Partnership for Sustainable Development was organised by the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs and ActionAid Nigeria, led by its Country Director, Dr. Otive Igbuzor.The goal of the forum was to promote citizen participation in
governance and development, and the objectives included among other things: to provide an avenue for interaction and exchange of ideas between the House of Representatives and civil society organisations in Nigeria; to build partnership between the House and civil society for governance and development; and to provide a forum for civil society organisations to engage various committees of the House of representatives. Those at the forum expressed the need for active and conscious nurturing of the essential feature of democracy, genuine and active participation of the people in how they are governed, along with civil society's role in developing the capacity of Nigerians in participatory democracy.
There was also the need to build the capacity of Nigerians to dialogue with government, question the activities of their representatives, participate in the law making process and the development of
government policies and hold public officials accountable for their actions. The forum was organised against the backdrop of the great gulf that exist between Civil Society and the Legislators and a recognition of the need and urgency to create a functional partnership for these two groups as a necessary step in ensuring an environment that would offer space for participation in the sustenance of development and democracy in Nigeria.
Hon. Eziuche Ubani, Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs under whose committee the dialogue was organised, gave the welcome address. The keynote address on 'The Challenge of Restoration' was given by the Speaker Rt. Hon. Dimeji Bankole while Igbuzor,
ActionAid Nigeria's Country Director, delivered a paper on 'Legislature/Civil Society Partnership for Governance and Development'.
Major issues highlighted from the presentations led to the recognition of the need for a structured engagement where civil society and government can share information and resources to promote good governance to the benefit of the people. The task of restoring Nigeria to the original vision of its founding fathers - to lead their people from the shackles of disease, want, ignorance and under development to modernity was identified as the current leadership duty of the House of Representative.
The Legislature has the constitutional responsibilities of law making, oversight and representation and there is the need for synergy between the CSOs and the House to ensure that Nigerians enjoy the benefits of good governance, the forum noted. The House of Representatives believed that there should be greater room for understanding and collaboration than obtains at the moment,
noting that the drive to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with 2015 as target, has equally made the engagement between the Legislature and CSOs in Nigeria imperative.
In a communiqué jointly signed by Ubani and Igbuzor, participants noted that over 70 million Nigerians are living in poverty and that the partnership should be a permanent relationship; coupled with the
need for Civil Society to have a prescribed role in the legislative process and calendar so that the aspirations of the larger society can be incorporated into the work of the legislature.
There was a call for a quarterly meeting of the partners to review and update the processes and outcomes of the partnership; with a zonal meeting between CSO and Legislators, to generate specific issues from the zone and feed back to the larger quarterly meetings.
They were enjoined to provide an office in the Legislative Complex to serve as a liaison office and resource base for the legislators' and civil society cooperation; with mutual effort towards changing the perception and attitude of the partners in the forum; enhance the capacity of members in the partnership to enable them meet the aspirations of Nigerians.

December 11, 2007 | 8:01 AM Comments  0 comments

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