Lagos -Mr Ganiyu Abiru, the Clerk, Lagos State House of Assembly, on Thursday said legislators needed effective communication skills to be successful.
Abiru made the remark at the quarterly capacity building forum for Assembly staff, which had the theme: ‘The Roles of Communication in Institutional Management’.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the seminar was held at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium of the Assembly Complex, Alausa, Ikeja.
“The work of a legislator is to talk, and if you don’t know how to effectively communicate, you cannot effectively discharge your duties as a legislator.
“So, any officer saddled with legislative responsibility must have good communication skills.
“Communication is key in any given institution and it must be unambiguous, succinct and clear, so as not to give room for misinterpretation,” Abiru said.
Commenting on importance of feedback in communication, the clerk urged private organisations to allow workers to have unions, for effective communication between the management and staff.
He said, “some organisations have outlawed unionism, but in public organisations, we have them. We don’t hamstrung unionism.
“Unionism is another good means by which management of any organisation would engage in effective communication with the workers for the overall interest of the organisation.
“Unions of today are not combatants, they are partners in progress; they represent the interest of the people and also the mouthpiece of any organisation.”
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Delivering a lecture on the theme, Mr Fesus Otabor, the Director of Publication of the Assembly, enjoined the legislators to make use of Hansard of the House.
He said that such verbal report would enhance feedback and effective communication.
Otabor commended the leadership of the House over the recently conducted Town Hall Meetings in all the 40 constituencies in the state.
“Such forum is one sure way of using communication as a tool for effective governance,” he said.
Otabor said many institutions were having it rough not only due to paucity of funds or academic incompetence of their managers.
According to him, failure to establish an effective communication system that allows free flow of information within and outside their institutions is also a contributory factor.(NAN)
