The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has organised a training for its lawmakers and members of the management on the conduct of public hearing for effective legislative proceedings and good governance.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training, held in conjunction with Multiventures Resources Limited, Jos, Plateau, also had secretaries of the Assembly standing committees as participants.
NAN also reports that the three-day workshop had as its theme: “Conducting Public Hearing as a Critical Tool in Legislative Practice and Procedure.”
The Speaker of the Assembly, Alhaji Ibrahim Balarabe-Abdullahi, while declaring the workshop open in Jos on Friday, assured the people of the state of more vigorous and robust legislative proceedings after the training.
“First and foremost, I want to commend Gov. Abdullahi Sule for approving the workshop, as it will go a long way in boosting our legislative practice and procedure.
“I want to assure His Excellency of our readiness to give his administration the much-needed support and cooperation to succeed.
“I also want to urge participants to take the workshop with all the seriousness it deserves in order for you to acquire more knowledge on how to conduct public hearing and ensure peace and good governance in our state.
“As we all know, public hearing is key to legislative practice. It could be conducted for different purposes, such as legislative, oversight and investigative, so as to promote effectiveness in governance,” he said.
Ibrahim-Balarabe assured of his readiness to give necessary support to the consultant for the workshop in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the training.
The speaker further assured the Assembly staffers of his continued commitment to executing policies and programmes that would boost their morale and enhance legislative activities for the overall development of the state.
In his presentation, Prof. Bonaventure Haruna of the Political Science Department, University of Jos, said that public hearing was very important for getting the views of the public on issues affecting their lives.
NAN also reports that the don spoke on the topic: “Public Hearing: Theory and Practice.
According to him, public hearing is a mechanism through which parliamentary committees obtain information, expert opinions and alternative perspectives on proposed legislation.
Haruna enumerated the criticisms of public legislative hearing to include democratic ritual, lack of dialogue, hijack by stakeholders and political posturing, among others.
The professor also spoke on another topic, which was “Planning and Organisation of Legislative Public Hearing”.
NAN reports that the workshop featured various paper presentations as well as a question-and-answer session.
