The Congress of the United States of America, Harvard and Oxford universities have stopped exchange programme for training Nigerian lawmakers over their consistent failure to attend, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, hassaid.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja during an interactive session with chairmen of the House standing committees and the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS), Ekweremadu said his colleagues were fond of absconding from training abroad after being paid.
“There was an instance I had aprogramme at Oxford with some of our colleagues they never showed up until the last day they came there and wanted to join but they refused. In fact, at the US Senate, it took about six months to resolve the problem because they said each time we send people they don’t come.”
For her part, Director General of the institute, Dr. Ladi Hamalai , berated the legislators for their failures to attend overseas trainings.
Also, a female member from Oyo State, Mrs. Ayo Omidiran, blamed the lack of transparency in the selection process of members for training as being responsible for non-attendance.
Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal appealed to his colleagues to utilise the services of the institute in order to enhance the quality oftheir debates on legislations.


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