Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has recommended the preparation of handover notes by committees of a preceding assembly of the house to the incoming, as a way of ensuring continuity of unfinished and important legislative processes.
To this end, the speaker while welcoming his colleagues back from the yuletide break on Tuesday, charged the Committee on Rules and Business of the House to initiate the process.
“One recurring criticism of the legislature in Nigeria has been the lack of continuity and the absence of tools and procedures for establishing an institutional memory. Government is a continuum; the actions of one administration will continue to impact the country long into the future. As the democratic process leads to continuous personnel turnover, it is vital to have a system that allows future officeholders to understand the decisions made by their predecessors.
“In the executive arm of government, it is established practice to prepare handover notes. I wish today to propose to the House that we adopt this practice at the Committee level. The House Committee on Rules and Business will lead this effort by formulating guidelines to make this possible”, Gbajabiamila stated in his address.
While recalling some of the successes recorded by the current assembly of the Hoise, he charged members to brace up for the tasks still left to be attended to. “When the 9th House of Representatives was inaugurated in 2019, we hit the ground running to discover and present solutions to our country’s problems. Some of our efforts have yielded positive results in some regards, and in other areas, there is still work to do.
“We must resolve to continue to do the people’s work despite the obligations and distractions of the political campaign season. As we approach the end of our term in office, I am hopeful that we will continue to meet and exceed expectations in this new year.
“Let us begin this new year with a renewed commitment to legislative action that brings us closer to achieving our highest aspirations for our nation. Let us resume with renewed determination to achieve better oversight of government spending priorities through a collaborative effort with the executive arm of government and civil society. And we remain dedicated to the lofty yet clear ambitions we articulated in our Legislative Agenda when we resumed in the 9th Assembly,” he said.
To ensure continuity, Gbajabiamila preaches legislative handover notes
