Tambuwal Wants Closer National Assembly Ties With ECOWAS Parliaments

ABUJA, September 24, (THEWILL) - Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has called for a closer working relationship between the National Assembly and the ECOWAS parliament in order to tackle insecurity and terrorism in the West African sub-region.

Tambuwal made the call while receiving a delegation of the ECOWAS parliamentarians led by Mr. Mathurin Nago, chairman, Conference of Speakers of West African Parliament, who paid him a courtesy call in his office.

“There is a need for all our parliaments to come together and work in harmony and ensure that we, as a people and as leaders in our respective parliaments, engage ourselves with a view to coming together to ensure that we proffer solutions, parliamentary solutions, to address the challenges,” he said.

“Security is a challenge to the region but sustained peace is the only panacea to its development. I dwell on the issue of insecurity and terrorism because I recognise that without peace and tranquility, we cannot achieve any meaningful development.

“In the past, we have had the challenge of wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone; and you can see that security and stability of the West African region is key and important to its development.”

He urged the sub-regional body to convene a meeting of heads of parliaments, to address the challenges of the region.

“Mr chairman of the conference of Speakers of West Africa Parliament, I will suggest that you convene a meeting of the Heads of parliaments of West Africa sub-region here in Nigeria and we are willing to host you here in Nigeria,” he said.

Earlier, Mr Mathurin Nago, Chairman, Conference of Speakers of West African Parliaments admitted that the sub-region is confronted with problems of security, poverty and integration.

He said these problems would remain unresolved without a virile parliament to tackle them, and assured that as parliamentarians, they would continue to fight poverty and insecurity, and work for the economic development of the sub-region.