NASSBER, Reps strategise transformative legislation

9 months ago

The National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER) and House of Representatives, on Thursday, pledged to work together to facilitate bills that transform lives with measurable outcomes, as the legislature develops its agenda for Nigeria.

In furtherance of this effort, NASSBER pledged the support of its Advisory Council, technical working committees and working groups comprising over 1000 experts for the Speaker, his principal officers and committee chairs that will emerge as the 10th assembly settles down to work.

Both parties made the pledge when a combined Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and NASSBER delegation paid a courtesy visit to Honorable Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker, House of Representatives. This was a buildup to last week’s courtesy call on the Deputy Speaker, Honorable Benjamin Kalu, to explore areas of alignment that would evolve a workable Nigerian economy.

Dr Tayo Aduloju, Chief Operations Officer, NESG, who again led the NASSBER delegation, commended the Honorable Speaker on his new role and milestones recorded through his immeasurable support for the Roundtable till date.

He reiterated NASSBER’s readiness to contribute to a legislative framework for transforming the Nigerian economy, while requesting a dialogue session with the National Assembly Leadership to carry out an Impact Assessment and Gap Analysis on the Nigerian Legislative Framework.

He said: “We are offering our support to ensure we can convene, when you are ready, the different sectors of the private sector and the experts in those sectors to immediately extract both the needs and scope of the economic legislative agenda which, of course, is a subset of the larger agenda of the House. Our approach has been to ensure we provide capacity development and research. The last few Speakers requested specific technical assistance, especially when huge economic matters have been discussed that require clear briefs. We offer all this support…to you, Mr Speaker, and the principal officers of the house, and also the committee chairs that will emerge in this process of settling down.”

Responding, Honorable Abbas commended NASSBER’s efforts over the years to facilitate an enabling economy for businesses to thrive through its partnership with the Legislature. He assured that NASSBER would find in the 10th National Assembly a willing partner in its quest for speedy and quantifiable economic transformation.

He said: “I believe what you are doing is a historic one…. I implore you to come forward with more ideas, with more initiatives, and you will find us welcoming you to please come forward.”