The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has expressed hope that Nigeria and Ghana will arrive at mutually acceptable resolutions to defuse the diplomatic tension between both nations.
The Speaker, who led a delegation of lawmakers from the House of Representatives, stated this when they were received by the Speaker of the Ghanaian parliament, Hon. Mike Oquaye, as they arrived Accra, Ghana, on a legislative diplomatic mission.
Alongside the Speaker on the legislative diplomatic mission to Ghana are the Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hon. Buba Yusuf; Chairman, House Committee on Media, Hon. Benjamin Kalu; House Member of ECOWAS Parliament, Hon. Bayo Balogun; Hon. Ikenna Elezieanya, Hon. Ephraim Nwuzi and Hon. Balarabe Shehu.
Gbajabiamila, in a statement issued Wednesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Lanre Lasisi, said the two-day visit to Ghana was meant to explore legislative diplomacy towards resolving the issues affecting both countries.
The Speaker, while thanking his counterpart for the warm welcome, emphasized that within the next two days of discussions, hopefully, they would be able to arrive at a mutually acceptable resolution between both countries.
He added: “There’s something in modern-day parlance called legislative diplomacy or parliamentary diplomacy, and that’s what obtains all over the world today. Diplomacy is done from all angles including back channel such as what we are doing now and sometimes you get results that you can only imagine. So I look forward to a fruitful discussion as we move forward.
“Like you rightly said, Nigeria and Ghana are more like Siamese twins and brothers. I love the analogy you came up with, like the tongue and teeth. Brothers will always have squabbles, healthy ones, national interest on both side will always come to play but it’s not the misunderstanding that matters, it’s how you resolve it that matters.
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“In Africa, you cannot talk about Nigeria without talking about Ghana and you cannot talk about Ghana without talking about Nigeria and therefore it has become incumbent on us, one as leaders of parliament and two generally as parliamentarians to bring to bear this concept of legislative diplomacy for fruitful results.
“The weight and burden of our international relationship rest actually on parliamentary shoulders and it is my hope that we will, in two days, reach some resolutions that will settle both countries.”