The President of the Nigerian Senate, Godswill Akpabio has tasked the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) to exchange ideas on ways to achieve peace and prosperity in West African region.
Akpabio spoke while hosting to a dinner in Abuja on Thursday the newly inaugurated members of the Sixth Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament.
The Senate President told the Parliamentarians that there were a lot of expectations from them because the region was going through a very challenging time.
Akpabio assured them that Nigerian Parliament would give them necessary support as they embarked on diplomatic shuttles across the region particularly to countries that are yet to become fully democratic.
He said: “I want to express my gratitude to you for finding time to grace this occasion. I want to congratulate all of you for your election and selection into the ECOWAS Parliament just inaugurated today(Thursday).
“Nigeria remains the host of the ECOWAS Parliament and ECOWAS Commission and we assure you of a very extraordinary hospitality. Whenever your schedule allows you to come to the country, we will welcome you very warmly.
“West Africa is one. We are one people but divided by artificial boundaries by the colonial masters. We are one people irrespective of the various boundaries and the borders in West Africa.
“I want to pay tribute to your immediate past leadership led by Rt. Honourable Sidi particularly his passion which was expressed in his speech today.
“I felt very emotional and that shows that he is very determined in and out of ECOWAS Parliament to support regional integration and God will bless him for his endeavour.
“We are in a very challenging time and so a lot of expectations from ECOWAS Parliament in terms of regional trade, regional cohesion, promoting democracy and in terms of ensuring that countries that are not yet democratic in West Africa become democratic as soon as possible.
“So I join the Chairman of ECOWAS, Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urge you to see yourselves as Ambassadors of democracy while you are serving in ECOWAS Parliament.
“On our part, we will support you from the Parliament of Nigeria to undertake a lot of diplomatic shuttles to Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and other countries that are yet to become fully democratic.
“You must exchange intelligence and exchange ideas on how we can curb the cross border crimes that we are facing in the region and how we can ensure a more peaceful and prosperous region for all our citizens.
“As a parting words which I don’t want you to forget: Remember when the colonial masters decided to partition the region into various countries, they did not seek the consent of our grandfathers.
“They did not seek the consent of any individual in West Africa. It was done outside West Africa. That was how they created the artificial boundaries that I spoke about earlier in the day.
“But I want to urge you to note that a child of rape should not allow the circumstances of her birth to mar her future.
“I wish you fantastic experiences. I wish you luck. I wish you major contributions as we work together with other parliaments in West Africa to move our region forward.”
Responding, the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin who is the new First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament thanked Akpabio for the gesture of hosting them to the dinner.
“We are assuring you that we are going to work in the best manner possible for the interest of the ECOWAS and people within this sub-region,” he said.
