10th House to organise training for Media on parliamentary reporting

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas has stated that the 10th House will provide training seminars for reporters covering it every quarter.

Mr Abbas made the statement in the National Assembly in Abuja during an interactive session with members of the House of Representatives Press Corps.

According to him, the training will guarantee that the reporters have all of the tools they need to provide good legislative reporting to Nigerians.

He promised that the first leg of the training would begin in October.

“We have already concretized arrangements and the organisation that is going to champion it has already agreed to a date and time. And I’ll try as much as possible to see that at least every quarter, one training or the other is organised for you people,” Abbas said.

He pointed out that the media is crucial to bringing attention to the House’s operations and that they require all the assistance and cooperation they can get.

The House would make every effort to limit its closed-door meetings during debates, the Speaker promised.

He emphasized the establishment of a standing committee to oversee and assess the proceedings of the House in order to make the 10th Assembly more alive and active.

The Speaker also said that the increase in the number of committees was not aimed at giving leadership positions to members of the House, but to increase the level of efficiency of the oversight functions of the House.

He further said that the Committee has been broken into University Education, Federal Polytechnic, Federal Colleges of Education, and TETFund.

He said that the decision of the House to increase the number of standing committees came under criticism.

According to him, all standing committees have been given marching orders to ensure efficiency in their work.

Abbas explained that to press home the need for efficiency in the work of the standing committees, the House decided to set up a Monitoring committee that would monitor the works of the various committees and put them on their toes.

Earlier, the Chairman of the House of Press Corps, Ms Grace Ike said that the Press Corps was a democracy-friendly corps that is committed to promoting good governance through objective and balanced reportage.

Ms Ike said that any leader who wants to succeed must have the media and enjoy their confidence while ensuring mutual understanding.

She said; “As professional journalists, we are also conscious of national interest and have been doing our job with utmost patriotism. We are not oblivious to the fact that the parliament is the bastion of democracy and hence the reports coming out of it must reflect the reality on the ground and meet the yearnings and aspirations of Nigeria.

“However, we also need the cooperation and support of your leadership to continue offering undiluted service to the nation. We need the understanding of committee chairmen and their members to reciprocate our friendly gesture and carry us along in their activities.

“The parliament is a specialized area so there should be training and retraining of journalists should be given utmost priority and we look forward to seeing this materialize,” Ms Ike added.

The session was aimed at enhancing the relationship between the media and the House of Representatives.