Workshop
Details
Mrs. Hildegard Behrendt-Kigozi, the Country Director of KAS in Nigeria, welcomed everybody and introduced the visitor from headquarters, Mrs. Andrea Ostheimer, who witnessed the training in Abeokuta.
The Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly expressed the happiness that the training, in which Ogun State could not participate before in other locations, was now brought to their doorstep. He thanked KAS for the efforts of KAS to empower the parliament.
He also thanked KAS for the opportunity to hold town hall meetings in Ogun state with the electorates, which came up in the last legislative period. This served as a means of exchanging ideas with his electorates, who otherwise would not have the opportunity of making inputs into decision making in the state.
Barrister Ayuba Gongu and Barrister Ray Esebagbon explained and discussed the 3 fundamental functions of a parliamentarian which are: representation; law making; and oversight. Issues concerning ethics and privileges, motions, debates and resolutions were explained.
Barr. Esebagbon looked at the relationship between the federal and states governments from legal perspective, while Dr. K. A. Olaniyan (Faculty of Law, Uni. Ibadan) explained the principles of federalism pointing out the cooperation between the states and the federal government in making laws.
Dr. Tunji Babatunde, department of Economics, Uni. of Ibadan, while addressing the collaborative roles of state parliaments and the executives on one hand, the media and CSOs on the other, also pointed out the practical issues involved in budget tracking and oversight by the parliaments.
Finally, a session on conflict management was offered to the parliamentarians. This sought to sensitize the parliamentarians to recognize the different areas where conflicts can arise, and how to manage them. Conflict in itself is not bad, but the ways such conflicts are managed determine the outcome, which can be good or bad. A good parliament is not a parliament without conflicts, but a parliament that can manage conflicts well. Prof. Tajudeen Akanji from the University of Ibadan pointed out that the parliamentarians should see themselves as partners in progress of their states, and should also regard the executive as their partners as well. The concept of separation of powers does not mean the executive be regarded as enemy, but as part of the actors to lead their states to progress and have dividends of democracy. A short animation film was a welcome and lively tool used to bring the concept and stages of conflicts home.