House of Representatives Speaher, Abbas Tajudeen, has called for better socio-cultural and economic integration and pact among African countries.
A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Musa Kirshi, quoted the Speaker as saying this can be possible through better transportation system that connects African countries.
The Speaker, the statement said, spoke at the 18th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of Commonwealth (CSPOC) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, yesterday.
Abbas said challenges faced in transport is not peculiar to East Africa, saying those in West Africa also pass through similar challenge.
The Spealer, who said it was his first time in Cameroon, said although Nigeria shares border with Cameroon, and it does not take more than 20 minutes to drive from one part of Nigeria to Cameroon, logistics, especially in air and land, has made it difficult for the two countries to know what is happening in the other.
He said “how can you foster cooperation when people – neighbours – don’t even know anything about each other?
“So, we need to work not only on air; we need to try ways of improving our railway connectivity. Take an example when you go to Europe – the Schengen areas, it takes you less than one hour from one country to another. And you will do it seamlessly without knowing you have passed a country and you are in the next country,” Abbas said.
The Speaker said the National Assembly has taken steps to ensure better integration among African countries, saying Senate and the House has created a Committee on African Integration and Cooperation “to look at how we can bring Africa.”
Abbas added; “I am sure some of the Speakers might be aware the legislators from Nigeria have been relating with their colleagues on this subject matter. So, I want to urge other legislators to take this matter serious because this is one area where we will make our contributions while waiting for the Executive to do their part.
“We should try establishing, as part of our standing committees, a committee called Committee on African Integration and Cooperation. It is fundamental if we can have it because it will share these kinds of ideas and find solutions.”
He added another initiative from the Nigeria is the creation of friendship committees, adding in the last four years, the National Assembly had about 10 “primarily to take care of issues on economic and cultural relationships with some countries.”
He noted the 10th House would create more, stressing: “This is also in our resolve to ensure African countries and non-African countries are closer together, so we can share issues and objectives.”
Abbas urged other parliaments to emulate National Assembly by creating similar committee.
“Among our initiatives is creating a committee called Committee on Legislative Compliance. This committee is charged with looking at treaties that have been entered with our country and making sure each is followed to the letter. What I have observed in Africa is we are good with signing treaties but we are poor when it comes to implementation.
“Since we have Executives and we know we (Legislatures) have a role to play in what they do, it is to ensure we have committees that will be interfacing with our Executives, persuading and encouraging them to ensure domesticate what we they have signed as treaties with African countries and other parts of the world.”