The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) and the National Judicial Institute (NJI) have inaugurated a collaborative partnership aimed at enhancing legislative and judicial capacity in Nigeria.
Speaking at the inauguration of the initiative in Abuja on Friday, the Director-General of NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, said that democracy thrives on the synergy between the Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.
He said that development and good governance could only be achieved when the three arms of government worked in harmony. “The only agencies of government or institutions here established by an Act of Parliament are NILDS, NJI, and the Public Service Institute (PSI),” he said.
Sulaiman added that for the three arms of government to work effectively, these three agencies would be seen to be working together.
“Government must do everything possible to nurture these institutions, provide necessary tools for us to work so as to give support to the operators of the three houses of government.
“We handle committee assignments, various committees of the House of Reps and of the Senate.
“We train them it is not every time we have all the expertise to handle this training.
“It is time we start leaning on you too. Where we are lacking, you give us and where you are lacking, we can give you to and through that, we can build the kind of capacity we are talking about at level of the national assembly and judiciary,” he said.
Also speaking, the Administrator of NJI, Justice Babatunde Adejumo said that the courtesy visit was to understudy the operations of NILDS and explore areas of collaboration.
He said that the NJI was also interested in comparing notes and to collaborate in the area of library records, publications, departmental operations, organisational challenges among others.
Adejumo who was a former President of the Industrial Court, underscored the need to train and retrain judges through workshop, conferencing, seminars and any other method of impacting.
He said that training was necessary as the law is organic and instrument of social engineering which changes as the society change, with there are many new concepts like climate change and insecurity.
“So if we do not do it, well, this country may not be stable. Judges are to interpret and apply the applicable laws.
“So if we at the NJI fail to do whatever is required for the stability through interpretation of legislation, application of legislation, settlement of discourse between all the arms of government, individual and the citizen and the government, then there will be no peace.
“The country cannot grow if the institutions are weak and no country or firm would like to trade with Nigeria if there is instability,” he said.
