Reps’ C’ttee tasked to interface with EFCC, ICPC others on anti-graft laws

By Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

The House of Representatives has harped on the need for members of its Financial Crimes Committee to be more involved in the day to day drafting of legislation and consulting with other relevant stakeholders with a view to enhancing their legislative capacity needs.
The Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon Suleiman Lasun Yusuf said this on Tuesday in Abuja while declaring open the Leadership/Capacity Building Workshop for House of Representative Members and Support Staff of Financial Crimes Committee. Hon Yusuf said that there is also the need for the Committee to facilitate the smooth relationship between the executive and the legislature for the implementation of Anti-Corruption laws.
The Deputy Speaker stressed further that the members of the committee, in the discharge of their oversight function, for instance, need to engage with other relevant stakeholders such as ICPC, EFCC and Code of Conduct Bureau as well as paying particular attention to continuously improving Anti-Corruption laws and legal jurisprudence.
Accoding to him, “Indeed, we must all work towards establishing a sustainable body of qualitative legislation that will stand the test of time and constantly responding to the changes in the society and across the globe. “It is important that our legislative process is efficient and the machineries including the legislative staff are able to deliver timely quality legislation in support of government’s policies and programmes.
“We must imbibe gradually the best practices adopted both sub-regionally and internationally.
“Flowing from the foregoing, this gathering offers another opportunity for us all to rise to a new and challenging situation while gaining invaluable experience and knowledge that will move our country`s legislative process forward in the foreseeable future”, he said.
Yusuf pointed out that great efforts are required to strengthen the legal framework of anti-corruption in Nigeria as well as strengthen the institutions whose mandate revolves around the fight against corruption. He stated that the level of work already done by the House of Representatives in this 8th Assembly, especially with the successful passage of the NFIU Bill, 2018 and recently, the Proceeds of Crime Bill, 2018 by the House of Representatives demonstrates its commitment to the delivery of democratic dividends.