House Clerk Inducts 89 New Staff, Sets Legislative Standard

Clerk of the House of Representatives, Dr. Yahaya Danzaria, has said for there to be effective service delivery in the legislature, staff must be diligent and responsive to the needs of the political class within the institution, adding that without them, nothing could be achieved.

Danzaria stated this while speaking to journalists shortly after the induction ceremony of 89 newly recruited staff of the National Assembly posted to the House of Representatives.

He said the induction was a necessary process of exposing the new staff to the rudiments of legislative practices and procedures, as future leaders, who would take over the bureaucracy in the nearest future.

“My charge on them is for them to be patient, to be responsive and diligent, because these are the qualities that the entire National Assembly as an institution requires of them, because we believe that in years to come, they are the ones to take over from us. We are preparing them for leadership, we are preparing them for take-over soon enough.

“It’s a normal thing just like we usually do for newly elected legislators. They come, they go through an induction, because in the National Assembly, we have this history of losing some members before the next Assembly, so also here we have about 200 that got into the National Assembly sometime early this year.

“So, we, in the House of Representatives, got our own share of 89 staff and we are taking them through the rudiments of legislative practices and procedures. We are also showing them that there are certain things they will not understand until we give them on-the-job training. Also, they need to understand the permutations of the civil service, which is different from their various background, so this is the essence of this induction,” he said.

Delivering his address earlier, the Clerk took the inductees through the organisational structure of the bureaucracy and the extent of its shared responsibilities through the various directorates and departments under them.