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Gbajabiamila, Ghana’s new speaker seek improved parliamentary relations
By Nicholas Kalu, Abuja
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, and the new Speaker of the Ghanaian Parliament, Mr. Albert Bagbin, have agreed to strengthen parliamentary relations in a bid to find lasting solutions to mutual challenges.
Such challenges, they said, include the trade dispute involving some Nigerian traders in Ghana.
The two speakers reached out to each other during a zoom meeting they held yesterday, according to a statement by Gbajabiamila’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasiri.
Gbajabiamila told his Ghanaian counterpart the two countries were like siblings and should continue to explore the avenue of parliamentary diplomacy in addressing shared challenges.
The Nigerian Speaker also introduced the project he initiated with five other African Speakers, namely the Conference of Speakers of African Parliaments (CoSAP), saying last year they worked together to advocate debt relief.
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He further stated that this year, African Speakers and Heads of Parliaments were expected to gather in Abuja to explore how they could work better together to tackle collective challenges.
While congratulating the Ghanaian Speaker for his success at the recently contested polls, Gbajabiamila said while he worked very closely with the predecessor, he looked forward to doing the same with Bagbin in continuation of the age-old tradition of solidarity between both nations.
The Nigerian Speaker updated his Ghanaian counterpart on his visit to Ghana late last year in an effort to douse tensions and extract commitments from the Ghanaian government over the trade dispute.
He said he would want the discussions on the matter to continue under the new Ghanaian Speaker.
On his part, Bagbin said he welcomed the idea of having a better relationship with the Nigerian parliament and that he was ready to reciprocate the Nigerian Speaker’s visit so that they would discuss issues.
He also applauded Gbajabiamila for coming up with the idea of CoSAP, which he described as a noble project.
“On the issue of CoSAP, yes, we already have somebody as the focal person and it’s not only the handover notes.”
