Date: 2015-06-06

A communique released by the Forum of Like Mind Senators after their 2-day retreat held at Sandralia Hotel Jabi in Abuja on the 5th and 6th of June 2015. The Forum organised the retreat to further strengthen the ability of their members to pursue a people oriented Senate of the 8th Assembly and be in a position to hit the ground running upon inauguration of the Senate on Tuesday the 9th of June 2015.

The forum after the two day interactive sessions with expert agreed and adopted this communiqué, which is reflective of the knowledge they have acquired during the retreat, to pursue in the 8th National Assembly lawmaking orientation centered on people. The Forum resolved to form a political front devoid of party coloration to pursue an overarching legislative objective of bringing lawmaking closer to the people through better representation and participation of the constituents and adopt a much more friendly engagement of the CSO.

The forum in their communiqué noted that this retreat is being organised to continue to enrich its members with technical capacity to face the challenges of lawmaking.

Several papers where presented and interactive sessions held at the retreat, include a paper presented by Senator-Elect Binta Garba on 'Engaging the Constituency for Maximum Impact and Feedback'; the paper explaining the essential ingredients of representation that will carry the people along. Another important paper presented by Senator-Elect Dino Melaye & Kingsley Amaku on 'Engaging the CSO as catalyst for Effective Oversight' among many other papers.

The convener of the Forum, Senator Bukola Saraki in his closing remarks noted that for too long the CSO has been left out of the legislative process. He noted that this may have inimically impacted on the quality of our legislation especially on the quality of legislative oversight. He observed that the CSO remains a veritable tool to good governance because of the specialized competences they bring to the table, including their neutrality and on the field experience. He noted that these are qualities that can help enrich the legislative process and deepen our democratic culture through participation.

He agreed to work with his colleagues to make the resolution of this retreat a corner stone of the new Senate in its engagement with the generality of the Nigerian people.

Signed:

Senator-Elect Dino Melaye