LAGOS ASSEMBLY CLERK COUNSELS LAWMAKERS

Clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Ganiyu Abiru has said that members must work hard and engage their constituents for better chances of re-election.

Abiru spoke on Friday at the 5th Quarterly Staff Capacity Building and Paper Presentation titled: “The Effects of High Legislators Turnover on the Growth of Democracy,” a programme organized by the assembly.

According to the Clerk, “the legislators should be closer to their constituents; they should make sure that whatever they are doing, their constituents are aware of it.

“Most of the people in the constituency do not know what the functions of legislators are. The people are misconceiving the constitutional roles of the legislators.

“The legislators are not supposed to build roads, build hospitals and schools and others, but they are to make laws that will facilitate the establishment of these and effective running of all institutions.

“This is the first year of the 8th Lagos Assembly; they must work very hard to educate their constituents as to the functions of legislature for their re-election.

“They should go back to the people because they are here because of the people and if they fail to do that, they have failed in their constitutional responsibility.”

The clerk, who frowned at the flamboyant lifestyle of some lawmakers, said that lawmakers should not detach themselves from the people who elected them into office.

Abiru said that staff of the House had been adequately and intellectually equipped to assist lawmakers carry out their statutory responsibilities, urging the lawmakers to tap from their wealth of knowledge.

He however, called on the media to continue to educate the people on the constitutional responsibility of the legislators, stressing that there was no way democracy could thrive without support of media.

(Credit: Temitayo Peters)