Director, Exams and Records at the institute, Dr Moshood Amuda made the declaration on Thursday in Abuja.

He represented the Director-General of the institute, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman at the induction of students of NILDS-UNIBEN postgraduate programme for 2022/2023 academic session.

“The institute has enrolled about 800 students and graduated about 500,’’ he said.

He explained that the institute’s postgraduate programme is conducted in collaboration with the University of Benin (UNIBEN) and is fully accredited by the National Universities Commission.

He said the induction aimed to familiarise the students with the learning environment to enable them to make the best use of available resources.

“NILDS is one of the world’s premier academic and research institutions established by an Act of parliament to support the sustenance of dynamic and effective legislature in Nigeria; in ECOWAS and Africa at large.

“The NILDS-UNIBEN postgraduate programme is, therefore, part of the overall framework of the institute for deepening knowledge of the legislature and democratic governance.

“Postgraduate programmes offered by the institute are the Masters in Legislative Studies, Masters in Elections and Party Politics and Masters in Legislative Drafting.

“Others are Masters in Parliamentary Administration, and Postgraduate Diploma in Elections and Party Management,’’ he said.

Amuda added that more than 100 students had been admitted into the various programmes for the 2022/2023 session.

According to him, the distribution of the new students by gender also shows improvement in female enrolment into the NILDS postgraduate programmes.

“In the postgraduate diploma programme, females account for 57 per cent and constitute 46 per cent of new students in the Masters in Legislative Drafting programme.

“This is commendable and would be improved upon,” he said.

He said the NILDS had launched its Democracy Radio 104.9 FM and the Legislative Centre for Security Analysis.

Amuda added that in addition to lectures and library resources, students could listen to broadcasts of programmes to enhance their knowledge on a broad range of issues on the legislature and on national development.

He encouraged new students to tune to NILDS Democracy Radio 104.9 FM often.

Amuda also enjoined the students to follow all NILDS social media handles and to subscribe to its YouTube channels to access materials that would enhance their understanding of its programmes.