The leadership of National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies is leaving up to its mandate, considering the management acumen of a political scientist, public speaker and commentator of high repute, Professor Olarenwaju Suleiman Abubakar as the Director General of the twin democratic agency.
No doubt, three years down the line, alot of achievements in the area advancing democratic practices , democratic norms and processes in Nigeria had been on the higher pedestal .
Aside major re-organisation, welfare packages and major internal review that had placed staffers in a better stead to deliver not only dividends of democracy through awareness and orientation, it had engaged major democratic stakeholders towards deepening democratic practices not only in Nigeria, but across the globe.
Therefore, the tendencies to rejig the practice from the grassroots to the national level cannot be overemphasized, this is in view of many years of military practices, administration and interregnum that had eaten deep into the fabrics of many Nigerians , hence making the return to democratic practices allien to many segments of the society.
The recent decision of the management of NILDS under Professor Abubakar Olarenwaju Suleiman to train drafts men from the local , state and federal level was a decision that will not put Nigeria democracy in a precarious situation.
The approach by the top helmsman of NILDS will not only gradually remove Nigerian democracy from the shackles of military abberation, but also advance democratic norms geared towards reverting the process to the best practices, as applicable in the developed and developing democracies.
The stirdes initiated by the leadership of NILDS was a major reforms spread across from top to bottom, that will inturn embarked on trainer – trainee to avoid avoidable pitfalls prevalent in our current practices.
The laudable policies among many others initiated by Professor Olarenwaju when sustained will solidify our democratic practices, and detached the polity from any unforseen circumstances and abberative tendencies.
This is in view of the strong advocacy and cocooned of public psyche embarked upon by the new NILDS to drive home genuine democratic practices among many other areas, that will portray a new sane democratic rules.
With continuous trainings and re-trainings embarked upon by NILDS of drafts men, no doubt the routine exercise will bridge the gap of paucity of personae and professional with wealth of experiences to drive the nascent democracy, threatened by myriads of somersaults glaringly threatening the Nigeria’s thriving democracy.
The need to continue in this trend was already obvious giving the neccessary orientation and reorientation been carried by NILDS, with greater supports from both national and international communities.
For NILDS, it is a right peg in a square hole, giving the zeal and encouragement by the leadership, and the desire to deliver on the mandate of the institute in line with the global best practices.
Written By ABUBAKAR YUSUF, and can be reached on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com.