Senate President seeks Britain’s help for human capacity building

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan on Tuesday sought the assistance of the British High Commission in Nigeria in the area of capacity building for the lawmakers.
“Our committees, when we constitute them, we will need your support,” Lawan told the British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Catriona Laing who was on a courtesy visit.
A statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Media, Mohammed Isa quoted Lawan saying, “we want some kind of support for capacity building” through the Department for International Development(DFID) which is the British department responsible for administering overseas aid.
“So we want to appeal to you that you consider that for our Committees, when they are constituted, we ask for support. The Committees are the engine room of our legislature, we need to have support for  committees to perform well,” Lawan said.
The National Assembly, he said,  believes that the economy must work for everybody including  the lowest in the society.
“The vulnerable, the most disadvantaged, the youths who have graduated from  Universities and yet have no job. We must create employment opportunity for them,” Lawan said.
He told his guest that Nigeria, for long, has depended on oil but now seeking to diversify the economy like most other countries.
In her remarks, Laing said her mission was to congratulate the Senate President who she met in the build up to his election.
She spoke of the British government readiness to collaborate with the National Assembly particularly with regards to some key bills like the Police Reforms Bill, Electoral Act Amendment Bill and Petroleum Industry Bill.