Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has challenged<\/p>\n
Governor Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State, to extend his campaign for
\ntransparency in the budget of the National Assembly to other arms of
\ngovernment including how governors spend their security votes.
\nSpeaking while closing a retreat for\u00a0 management of the National Assembly
\nin Kaduna on Friday, Dogara, also\u00a0 challenged the Governors, to, in the
\nspirit of accountability and transparency publish how they utilise funds
\nallocated to local governments.<\/p>\n
The Speaker, while reacting to an earlier speech by Kaduna State Governor,
\nMalam Nasir Ahmed El-rufai, who urged the legislature to make its budget
\npublic, disclosed that already, the bureaucracy\u00a0 has been directed to
\npublish the National Assemnly budget beginning from 2017.<\/p>\n
“I will like to challenge him (El-rufai) to champion this cause for
\ntransparency in the budgetary process from the National Assembly to other
\narms of government. The Judiciary first. We want to see clearly how Chief
\nExecutives of States… how they are paid. What do they spend monthly as
\nsecurity votes. And if they can publish what happens to local government
\nfunds under their jurisdictions. That will help our discussion going
\nforward,” he said.
\nAcknowledging the challenges faced by the management of the federal
\nlegislature,\u00a0 Dogara stressed that the National Assembly is the most
\nmisunderstood institution and that no parliament in the world can win
\npopularity contest and Nigeria’s National Assembly is not an exception.<\/p>\n
“When, for instance, public discussions on funding of the legislature are
\nbeing made, the entire bureaucracy is often completely discountenanced,
\nneither is any consideration given to the fact that this is a special
\nbureaucracy saddled with a multitude of \u2018masters\u2019 who must be equally
\nserved in addition to service to the nation,” he explained.
\nDogara, said the Nigeria Civil Service will begin to record progress when
\nit breaks away from its usual tradition to new ways of carrying out its
\nfunctions and administration.
\nHe said for there to be productivity in the workforce, there must be
\ninnovation, which is borne out of motivation of staff through rewards such
\nas promotions based on merit.
\n“As leaders, you must be prepared to motivate the workforce. Motivation is
\nthe key to innovation anywhere. For far too long, the bureaucracy in
\nNigeria has failed to innovate because it is locked in a tradition that
\ndefines boundaries that must not be crossed. A tradition that says we have
\nalways done it this way and apportions sanctions for those who dare doing
\nit the other way even if the outcomes are better. These are chains that
\nbind the bureaucracy in Nigeria from within. Although the most difficult
\nchains to break are those within us, we must break them in order to free
\nthe bureaucracy and make it competitive and innovative. The key to
\nachieving this is undoubtedly, training and retraining in an environment
\nsuch as this.
\n“The necessity for every manager to fully understand the ecology of his
\norganization is not negotiable. The legislature is a distinct organisation
\nwith several peculiarities, thereby making strategic management approach an
\nimperative. The management of the National Assembly, whatever their
\nmanagerial competencies, cannot provide efficient and effective services to
\nthe legislature except they fully understand and appreciate the
\norganizational goals, objectives and the attendant challenges.<\/p>\n
“I need not warn you of the bitter lesson of life, which is that it will
\nnever offer you more than who you are. But the good news is that you can
\nbecome more. To become more, you must change your ideas and you will never
\nchange your ideas until you learn something new. New things learned are
\nuseless and cannot result in growth\u00a0 until you put them to use. That is why
\nyou cannot over spend on training. Tell me the size of your organization’s
\nbudget for training and retraining and I’ll predict with absolute
\ncertainty, the future of your organization.
\nThe Speaker commended the visionary leadership approach of the Clerk to the
\nNational Assembly, Mohammed Ataba Sani-Omolori, for the swift manner in
\nwhich he was able to undertake a management needs assessment of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has challenged Governor Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State, to extend his campaign for transparency in the budget of the National Assembly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n