Delta State Governor-Elect, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori, has promised to work toward maintaining a functional, vibrant and results-oriented state legislature.
Oborevwori, also the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, said this at a three-day training for members of staff of the House on Monday in Asaba.
He said the legislature, as an arm of the government and citadel of representation of the peoples’ mandate, would continue to attract attention in terms of democratic practices and good governance.
“As the Assembly’s reservoir of parliamentary practice and procedure as well as the institutional memory, the leadership of the House rely on you in several fronts, including quality advice, efficient and effective service delivery and institutional continuity”, the governor-elect, represented by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Christopher Ochor said.
To achieve the foregoing, he said the House needed well-groomed, effective, efficient and amenable workforce.
“The timely realisation of these roles have guided us in ensuring that we train and retrain members of staff from time to time for international best practices in service delivery”, he said.
Oborevwori said this had led to efficiency, effectiveness and productivity among officers, middle and management staff of the House.
“To consolidate on previous gains of training and retraining, the leadership and management of the assembly decided to organise the workshop to further deepen the working knowledge of the staff”, he said.
Oborevwori said as the most vibrant state House of Assembly in the country, the intention was to have the best and brightest members of staff for better service delivery to complement lawmakers at the House.
The Speaker thanked the body of technocrats of the House, led by the Clerk and her team for faithfully transforming the dreams and vision of the seventh Assembly into concrete reality.
In her opening remarks, the Clerk of the House, Mrs Lyna Ocholor, described the topic of the training Programme: “Standing Out, Making the Right Impact and Securing the Future”, as apt, saying it came at a time the House wass transiting from seventh to eighth Assembly.
Ocholor said from the beginning of the seventh Assembly, Oborevwori made a promise of training and retraining of staff, and that he had consistently ensured several capacity building Programmes for the workforce.
She thanked the Speaker and his team for making the work of Assembly staff so perfect that it placed them amongst the best in the country.
On his part, the Lead facilitator of the workshop, Mr John Mutu, said the programme had provided a platform to champion a better and more professional Assembly.
Mutu said the staff of the State House of Assembly have always stood out among their peers and commended the leadership and management of the Assembly for policies and practices that have helped in promoting sustainable growth in the state legislature.
Some of the participants acknowledged the consistency in training and retraining of the house workforce and commended Oborevwori’s drive for excellence.
They promised to put to good use all that would be learnt during the training.