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We Need Your Professional Advice in Making Laws – Kano Reps Tell Women Lawyers
By Juliet Vincent
Members of the Kano State Caucus in the House of Representatives have stated the importance of having professional advice and inputs from lawyers to help them in their Constitutional duty of making laws for the country.
The Caucus stated this at a meeting with members of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Nigeria, Kano State Chapter at the House of Representatives, Abuja on Tuesday.
Addressing the visiting female lawyers, leader of Kano and Northern Caucus in the House, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa noted that, despite their experience as members of the National Assembly whose primary responsibility is making laws, there os a gap which only a close working relationship with lawyers can fill to make their work more easier.
He said, “Those of us that are here, we are called lawmakers. But while we are making laws, definitely we will expect fine and brilliant brains like you to be helping us with some impudence. That is all.
“At all levels of legislation, we have a very critical point or window that we call public hearing. Apart from public hearing, members of the House also do have their constituency offices in their respective local governments.
“There are several other windows through which you can reach out to your representatives as professionals, especially legal professionals, and you will have a lot to contribute to our performance here as members representing the greater and the larger canon that we are representing in the House of Representatives.
When we have brains like you who are experts and professionals in the legal sector of society that interfaces and also collaborates with the members of the Parliament, so that at the end, our critical duty and responsibility of lawmaking could be made to perfection.
“I have been in the House of Representatives for the past 34 years.I have been elected day in, day in, day out six times to the House of Representatives. But that does not make me the best of legislators. One, I am not a liar.
“Two, I am human. I cannot be perfect on my own 100%. My great gentleman that is sitting here before me has been elected to the House the fourth time now.
“He could have his own areas of excellence and performance, but there is that gap in us, and it is that gap of legal background that will expect men and women of your own profession to help us come and fill that gap.
“Today, you have come at a very coincidental period, a very incidental period, when the constitutional review process in the National Assembly is ongoing. So, we will expect you to start to use the opportunity from there*.
“I do this with all sense of humility and respect for the profession, but I charge you people to also promptly interface and continue to collaborate with this caucus by way of giving us some of your insight, how you look at some of the legislations. The PIB, for instance, which has now been passed into law in 2021, is now subject of a lot of contemplations and controversy. Look at the PIA.
“Where do you think we have gaps? Where do you think we’ll have to come and make contributions? Virtually all that you have in the body of the laws of the Federation, they are viewable. They are not cast on stones. So it is only on the basis of some of this kind of contribution that you give to us that we can be able to also make a contribution”.
Earlier, the Chairperson, FIDA, Kano State Chapter, Bar. Bilkisu Suleman informed the lawmakers that, FIDA is an international body of professional lawyers and legal professionals who offer free legal services to less privileged, other support services and advocacy.
She said, “All of us that are into FIDA will have our primary responsibilities, but we allocate some time within a week, within a month that we dedicate our services for the promotion of the rights of women and children. So I want everybody to understand that we are not charging for whatever services we are doing.
“We are paying advocacy visits to ensure that legal issues or access to justice is promoted in our society. We are following up on cases of maybe interpretation of laws or application of laws that will promote and preserve the right of women and children. We are rendering legal services that is in the courts or mediation or even sensitization throughout in our constituents.
“For example, we have branches, we have members all over. Whenever issues come, we go to, even last week, we have a case in, after we did a lot of promoting the name of the village, I sent a lawyer there. So we have BG, all over.
“Whenever a case come, we send our members to go and handle cases. Just I was sitting here, there was a case that somebody called me, we need to send somebody to a village. So it’s not only metropolitan that we handle cases.
“We render mediations because normally when you know, our issues we are handling are very sensitive. Issue of women, children, father, wife, husband, is not something that is supposed to be handled in the court because whoever win is moving. There will be some kind of discomfort between the parties.
“So even if the case is before the court, we seek the indulgence of the court to permit us to bring the case back to our office and mediate so that there will be peace in the family. There will be peace and tranquility. So this is what we are doing.
“And you know our society, things are very, very complicated, especially in terms of issue of this poverty that is aggravating our society. And we all understand that each and every one of you is doing all his best to ensure that he renders his primary assignment and promotes the general welfare of the society. So our words cannot be undermined in thanking you and appreciating your effort and praying for you to improve more”.
