DEPARTMENT: Department of Studies
Overview
The Department is headed by a Director and provides opportunities for continuing education and capacity development through Master’s Degree and Postgraduate Diploma programmes in Legislative Studies, Legislative Drafting, Parliamentary Administration, Election and Party Politics and Constitutional Law/Constitutional Development.
Other programmes to be introduced in include Diploma Programmes in Parliamentary Administration and Official Reporting as well as Professional Parliamentary Management Certificate Courses and Online Post-graduate Diploma in Legislative Drafting.
Postgraduate Examinations
The National Institute For Legislative Studies and Democratic Studies/UNIBEN Programmes is out. The complete examination timetable for the 1st Semester 2022/2023 with details such as the examination courses, day and time, venue and the appointed invigilators clearly listed can be downloaded with the click of the button below.
POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA
The Postgraduate diploma programmes is a minimum of two (2) semesters and a maximum of four (4) semesters.
The duration of the part-time postgraduate diploma programme is a minimum of four (4) semesters and a maximum of six (6) semesters.
The courses in Postgraduate diploma include:
Legislative Studies
The programme is guided by the belief that it is only by appropriate and effective education of the populace and capacity building of legislators and legislative staff in democratic governance and legislative practices and procedures that genuine and functional democracies can emerge across the world.
Parliamentary Administration
The programme is driven by the need to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the running of parliaments. It focuses on the needs of parliamentary officers at all levels of government. The programme is to equip practising officers and those interested with improved knowledge and skills for better performance of relevant functions
Election and Party Politics
The programme is to expose students to the fundamental elements, dynamics and challenges of democratic elections and political party management in advanced and transitional democracies towards effective engagement in Nigeria’s democratic development.
MASTER'S DEGREE
The Master’s Degree programme is a minimum of six (4) semesters and a maximum of six (6) semesters. The duration of the part-time Master’s Degree programme is a minimum of six (6) semesters and a maximum of eight (8) semesters.
The courses in Master's Degree include:
The programme is to expose students to the fundamental elements, dynamics and challenges of democratic elections and party politics in advanced and transitional democracies towards effective engagement in Nigeria’s democratic development.
The programme is designed to meet the need for seasoned drafters of legislation for legislatures in emerging democracies. Its objectives are to train several participants in the art and science of Legislative Drafting to cover every conceivable area of human endeavours subject to legislation, and to enhance their techniques and skills in legislative drafting for quality legislation.
This programme aims to provide an enduring source of knowledge of Constitutional Law in all ramifications. The philosophy of the programme is to develop highly skilled research-oriented lawyers and lawmakers for the public and private sectors that would positively impact Constitutionalism and Constitutional Development
Legislative Studies
The programme is guided by the need to provide in-depth training in the theory and practice of lawmaking. The idea is to bring greater intellectual depth and breadth to the Programme so that candidates would not only be technically qualified persons, they would also be effective policy advisors to their Governments.
Parliamentary Administration
The programme aims to provide insight into theory, practice, empirical research and sources in the field of parliamentary administration. It encourages reflection on the practice of the Nigerian parliament and to envisage ways of improving parliamentary practice.
Election and Party Politics
The programme is to expose students to the fundamental elements, dynamics and challenges of democratic elections and party politics in advanced and transitional democracies towards effective engagement in Nigeria’s democratic development.
Legislative Drafting
The programme is designed to meet the need for seasoned drafters of legislation for legislatures in emerging democracies. Its objectives are to train several participants in the art and science of Legislative Drafting to cover every conceivable area of human endeavours subject to legislation, and to enhance their techniques and skills in legislative drafting for quality legislation.
Constitutional Law and Constitutional Development
This programme aims to provide an enduring source of knowledge of Constitutional Law in all ramifications. The philosophy of the programme is to develop highly skilled research-oriented lawyers and lawmakers for the public and private sectors that would positively impact Constitutionalism and Constitutional Development
OUR RESOURCES
NILDS is affiliated with the University of Benin, Nigeria for both the Master’s Degrees and Postgraduate Diplomas in Legislative Drafting, Legislative Studies and Parliamentary Administration.
Director of the Department
Dr. Asimiyu Abiola
Asimiyu Gbolagade Abiola, economist with public finance bias, teacher and researcher was born
on Tuesday 19 th February, 1963 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. He had his early education at the
St. Paul Anglican Primary School, Latunde in the Oluyole Local Government area Ibadan and
Ibadan Christ Apostolic Grammar School, Aperin-Oniyere in the Ibadan South East Local
Government area, where he obtained his Primary School Leaving Certificate and West Africa
School Certificate in 1974 and 1982, respectively.
Determined to become an economist, Asimiyu Gbolagade Abiola proceeded to study Economics
at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan and graduated in 1990. He obtained his Master’s and Doctor
of Philosophy in Economics degrees in Economics 1997 and 2001, respectively from the Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile- Ife, Oyo State.
His interest in teaching made him to join the service of Obafemi Awolowo University as a
Graduate Assistant in September 1994 and rose to the rank of Senior Lecturer in 2003. While in
the University he served as member many committees at the Departmental, Faculty and University
levels notably the University Senate (elected from the University Congregation) 2002- 2004 and
Appointment and Promotion Committee (representing the University Congregation) 2002 -2004.
He worked as Public Finance Expert (October 2005 – September, 2007) and Economist (February
2010 – December 2011) under the Policy Analysis and Research Project (PARP I & II),
respectively which metamorphosed into the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic
(NILDS). He formally transferred his service to NILDS on 2nd January, 2012 as Deputy Director of
Research and was promoted to the rank of Director in 2017.
He was deployed to the Post Graduate Unit as Coordinator of the Post Graduate Programmes in
February 2016, in addition to his responsibilities as Deputy Director of Research. He was later
appointed as Director of the Department of Post Graduate Studies later re-named as Department
of Studies (DoS) which currently houses both the Post Graduate and Higher National Diplomas
programmes. He was deployed, in addition to his responsibilities, as DoS to Superintend,
Department of Economic Development and Social Studies later re-name as Department of Economic
and Social Research (DESR) on Friday 17 th July, 2020. He managed the two Departments: DoS and
DESR until 31 st January, 2023 when another Acting Director was appointed for DESR.
The main thrusts of Asimiyu Abiola’s publications and the areas in which he had made contributions
to knowledge have been in the areas of Public Finance, Development Economics, Economic Theory,
Policy Analysis and Legislative Studies. Through his M.Sc. thesis, which was on the impact of deficit
financing on economic growth and development, he has contributed to the study of Public Finance
and Development Economics as fields of study in Economics. Also, through his Doctoral thesis on
the gaps (savings-investment, export-import and budgetary gaps) among required and
available resources to achieve sustainable economic growth, he has contributed to the
areas of Development Economics in particular and Economics as a management science in
general. Furthermore, through his almost two decades of legislative service and his
legislative research reports and teachings he has contributed to practice and procedure in
the legislature.
With respect to distinctions and awards he was a winner of Laureates of the Small Grants for Ph.D.
thesis writing programme of the Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in
Africa (CODESRIA), Dakar, Senegal, 1999. Also a winner of Research Grant for Ph.D. degree thesis
writing sponsored by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Nairobi, Kenya, 2002.
Finally, through his trainings in Economics, researches, teachings and publications, which have been
mostly in the areas of Public Finance and Development Economics and Legislative Studies, he has
contributed to the development of Economics as a field of study in the Social Sciences and the
legislature as an arm of government. He has about 50 publications in national and international journals, contribution to books, monographs and had attended many workshops and conferences.
