By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja

A coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) has evolved strategies to ensure improved Performance and productivity by the National Assembly and its lawmakers.

The CSOs, under the auspices if Cohort of Civil Society Organizations on Productive Partnerships with the National Assembly, while briefing House of Representatives correspondents on Monday, in Abuja, said it was time to get the legislative arm of government to work and be accountable to the people, whose mandate they represented.

Speaking on behalf of the coalition comprising 12 CSOs presently, Anthony Ubani, Executive Director, FixPolitic, said  “Arising from the above, the cohort will be advancing on the stewardship appraisals to achieve the following specific goals: cultivating and sustaining a cohort of performance-driven and reform-minded legislators who can partner with civil society on critical governance themes.

“Creating performance thresholds for legislators and the legislature in subsequent assemblies, advancing Legislative Strengthening and Accountability is the way to go.

“With respect to (i) above, the cohort is working with Order Paper to implement the MVP Hall of Fame as a framework designed to applaud and encourage exemplary legislative performances while engendering a community of healthy and productive partnerships between the Legislature, Civil Society and the citizenry in Nigeria.

“Details of this project will be unveiled in due course but suffice to stress that civil society in Nigeria congratulates those legislators who have done their constituents proud in the performance of their duties.

“We also encourage those who have not done so well to brace up and utilize the remaining period of the assembly to measure up.

“Those who have done poorly should also brace up to answer questions if unable to change course in the months ahead”, the CSOs insisted.

Adding, the CSOs said, “We hereby serve notice that this cohort has outlined measures and activities to move our advocacy forward, including engaging with the leadership of the National Assembly on critical governance themes, like electoral reforms, Constitutional amendment, anti-corruption, extractive transparency, and public finance management, among others.

 “The National Assembly and Civil Society need not be cat and mouse or regard each other with suspicion. At best, we can build mutual confidence and work together to achieve a better country.

“That is why it is our well-considered approach to engage the National Assembly on a non-adversarial basis anchored on a double-plank platform of (i) Legislative Accountability and (ii) Recognition and Reward System to incentivize improved performance in the interest of citizens. In other words, while we will be, on behalf of citizens, asking informed questions and demanding answers on the performance of elected representatives. We will also be happy to spotlight and thumbs up impressive service delivery by legislators and the legislature.

“We have chosen this two-pronged approach because we believe that performing and productive legislatures are a critical component in a country’s overall governance framework and are fundamental to promoting effective service delivery to citizens.

“As you already know, the legislature is constitutionally mandated to fulfil three core functions in a democracy: Representation, Law-making, and Oversight. We believe strongly that achieving the governance goals of accountability, transparency, and democratic service delivery are directly related to the performance of these three functions. We are excited to note that citizens have taken notice of the bills, motions and petitions pushed through in the Senate and House of Representatives”, the coalition held.