Senate President, David Mark
By  Kunle Akogun

Senate President, David Mark, has restated the resolve of the Federal Government to strengthen democratic institutions as part of efforts towards deepening democracy in the country.

Such efforts, he said, include capacity building for the legislative arm of government, ensuring independence of the judiciary, reliable and credible media as well as civic education for the citizenry.

The Senate President said this when a delegation of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) visited him in his office. He said citizens also needed to acquire civic education in order to fully participate in the democratic process.

He noted that the ultimate power and decision on leadership rested with the people.
As part of measures to strengthen and deepen democracy, Mark said the National Assembly had put in place a legislative Institute to develop capacity for the lawmakers.

He said: “We have put in place a legislative Institute to train our legislators. People need to be trained and re-trained. We also need to learn from older democracies like the United Kingdom and United States of America. It is also to strengthen democracy.

“The National Assembly passed the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI) into law to guarantee media access to information and freedom of the press.”

He, therefore, urged the media to take full advantage of the law and make their profession worth the while. He further advocated that the political class needed to work according to international best practices of democracy.

Nigeria, he added, was working towards standardising the democratic culture as well as meeting the international standards of civil rule.

Earlier, the leader of DFID delegation, Dr. Garth Glentworth, accompanied by the Ghana Electoral Commission Chairman, Dr Afari Gyan, had said the United Kingdom (UK) was keen about deepening democracy in Nigeria, a development which, he noted, would make the nation prosperous and her citizens reap the dividends.

-ThisDay

Posted by admin on Sep 23 2011. Filed under Legislature, Senate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry