NILDS HND graduates to now enroll for NYSC – DG

By Ifeanyi Nwoko

Graduates of the Higher National Diploma (HND) course of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) are now to be enrolled for the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.

Director General of the Institute, Prof. Ladi Hamalai, disclosed this on Thursday during the matriculation ceremony for the 2018 NILDS-HND programme in Official Reporting.

She said that the institute had in collaboration with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) gotten approval and full accreditation for the course.

Hamalai added that it was in the light of this that future graduates of the HND programme would now be qualified to undergo the National Service – NYSC.

“I wish to observe that the strategic collaboration between the Institute and NBTE has also led to the recent accreditation of the Institute to run a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Parliamentary Administration.

“Indeed, the future graduates of both the HND in Official Reporting and Parliamentary Administration have been approved for inclusion in the National Youth Service (NYSC) scheme or exemptions as appropriate,” she said.

The DG said that the creation of the course as well of the development of the curriculum became very necessary due to the dearth of official parliamentary reporters as well as other qualified legislative staff.

She stressed that NILDS was the first institution in Nigeria to run the programme adding that it was in a bid to “provide a holistic and integrated capacity building programmes for all aspects of the legislative functions in Nigeria.

“It is now widely accepted that competent technical legislative staff are essential to the effective functioning of the legislature and by extension in building a strong and virile bureaucracy.

“It is in realization of this need and in response to the manpower gap identified through a personnel audit instituted by the NASS Management that NILDS has been at the forefront of developing qualitative and targeted training and educational programmes that will address the skills gaps identified in all aspects of legislative operations.

“The NILDS-HND programme complements the various postgraduate programmes presently being run by the Institute in affiliation with the University of Benin. It is targeted at providing opportunity for lower and middle level personnel in the legislature particularly who do not possess relevant requirements for the Postgraduate programmes, to improve their educational attainment and advance their careers.

“I wish to personally recognize and thank the Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and his team of experts for providing the necessary professional guidance for the final accreditation of the programme.

“We also wish to thank members of the inter-agency Technical Committee who worked tirelessly to develop the NILDS-HND Curriculum in Official Reporting. The curriculum is truly unique because it combines the best of traditional and modern technological systems of official reporting,” she said.

Hamalai said that participants in the course are expected to develop knowledge in: Keyboarding, Speed Writing/Shorthand Development, Hansard Manual Styles, Bound Volume Management, Desktop Publishing along with other Information Technology tools and Record Management Practices.

She added that the lecturers as well as instructors had been carefully selected to promote Scholar-Practitioner approach in the course delivery.

She therefore congratulated all the matriculating students for taking advantage of the unique opportunity to improve their skills, knowledge and experience in reporting parliamentary proceedings accurately and comprehensively.

Speaking at the matriculation ceremony, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alh. Sani Omolori commended NILDS for pursuing and getting accreditation to run the programme.

He said that the programme would go a long way in getting professionals to handle official reporting in both the federal and state legislatures.

He urged the matriculating students to take the programme seriously.