The Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo has urged legal draftsmen in the national and state houses of assembly in the country to be more circumspect in the performance of their legislative duties.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo made the call when the Chairman and the members of the Delta State House of Assembly Service Commission paid him a courtesy visit at his office in Government House, Yenagoa on Thursday.
The Deputy Governor, who underscored the importance of adhering to legislative standards in the drafting bills, stressed the need for the training and retraining legal draftsmen in the law making arm of government.
Making reference to the 2022 Electoral Act of the National Assembly, he blamed legislative aides for not being diligent and thorough enough in drafting the bill and advised them to guard against the occurrence of costly and avoidable mistakes in future.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo also called for the creation of a separate department of Research and Planning, as well as a Legislative Standards Compliance unit in the various House of Assembly Service Commissions to achieve and maintain best standards in legislative business..
While applauding the delegation for making Bayelsa their first port of call in their planned visits to other states, the deputy governor suggested that the two service commissions should go beyond .mere exchange visits but rather institute effective peer review.
He advised them to forge synergy through exchange of ideas and experiences, in order to build capacity for efficient service delivery, and wished the team a happy and fruitful stay in the state.
His words, “This visit is quite innovative and refreshing. Any organization that is not learning is ineffective, and more often than not, it is not also productive.
“Nobody effectively learns from himself; everyone learns from the experiences of other people.
“We believe strongly that this visit will go beyond this level to a peer review for both service commissions. We are happy you find us worthy to share some of our experiences with you.
“You people have a duty as the House of Assembly Service Commission to especially train our legal draftsmen. The bills sometimes we draft are a major issue.
“So as those in charge of supervision, you need to talk to our legal draftsmen that they must know that whatever law they draft has consequences, because they sometimes make them very ambiguous.
“The truth is that the lawmakers may not have all the time to carefully read through proposed bills, so they need to be guided by their aides. Look at what happened to the Electoral Bill. You could see the confusion due to what I call legislative over-excitement or enthusiasm.”
“So, I think we need a department that has to do with legislative compliance. To what extent do the bills passed into law in the Houses of Assembly meet the required legislative standard?”
Earlier in her presentation, the Chairman of the House of Assembly Service Commission, Delta State, Hon. Cordilia Anyangwu, thanked the Deputy Governor for the warm reception accorded her and the visiting team.
According to Hon. Anyangwu, the exchange visit would help to forge a robust and fruitful relationship between the Bayelsa State House of Assembly Service Commission and its Delta counterpart.
The Delta delegation was accompanied on the visit by the Chairman, Hon. Dein Benadoumene and other principal officers of the State House of Assembly Service Commission.
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