ABUJA (SUNDIATA POST)- The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) has conferred honourary award of Fellow of the Institute on Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, former Head of State and Dr Bukola Saraki, former Senate President.
The institute also conferred the award on former Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara, Minister of State for Labour, Ms Nkiruka Onyeajeocha and Prof. Mike Obafan, an educationist.
The awardees were honoured at the 8th NILDS/UNIBEN Postgraduate and 3rd NILDS Higher National Diploma Programme Convocation ceremony in Abuja on Monday.
The Director-General of the institute, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman said that the award was in recognition of their efforts to the growth and development of NILDS.
He said that the awardees were recognised for their contributions to national development.
Responding on behalf of the awardees, Dogara said for the legislature to do the work of democracy, it must have some kind of an institute or an institution that would serve as a repository for knowledge.
He said that the knowledge citizens acquired empowered them to make informed decisions.
Dogara said that the institute was empowered to serve both the legislature, and the growth of democracy.
“I want to thank you, DG, for ensuring that this vision is thriving. I commend you for being proactive instead of being reactive.
“I want to thank you for the honour done to us, we will not forget and we are always available; we will always support this institute and on behalf of all the awardee, take this pledge from us,” he said.
Earlier, the President of the Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpabio said that the postgraduate programme of NILDS had helped to address the human resource gap in the country.
According to him, such progress is possible because of the commitment of the Director General of NILDS to good governance.
Akpabio said that it further proved that the collective progress as a country was better when democracy and democratic institutions were supported.
“Despite lingering challenges in the nation’s educational sector, data shows that Nigeria has recorded better performance in its Human Development Index in the UNDP 2024 report than it did in 2019.
“Supporting the educational sector through increased funding will therefore enable our country to record significant transformational changes.
“That is why the 10th Senate has continued to support policies such as the student loan programme and to take other initiatives towards addressing out-of-school children.
“These initiatives are very dear to the President and Commander in Chief, President Bola Tinubu, and thus require the support of all stakeholders.
“As the Chairman of the NILDS Governing Council, I will ensure that my team continues to support NILDS in fulfilling its role as the nation’s only statutory institute with a mandate for legislative and democratic engagements,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a total of six students graduated with Higher National Diploma (HND) in Parliamentary Administration while three graduated with HND in Official Reporting.
A total of 17 students graduated with Master in Law/Legislative Drafting, 13 with Master in Legislative Studies, 10 with Master in Election and Party Politics.
Others are three with Master in Parliamentary Administration and 13 with Postgraduate Diploma in Election and Political Party Management. (NAN)
