President of the Nigerian Senate (Parliament), Dr Abubakar Olubankola Saraki, has lauded President Akufo-Addo’s government for its achievements in the little over a year that it took over the administration of the country.
Within this short period that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) assumed office, he noted that there had been ‘milestone achievements.’
Dr Saraki made the observation when he and a delegation from the Nigerian parliament paid a courtesy call on Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia at the (Flagstaff House) yesterday.
“I commend you on the people-oriented programmes… some of these good things that you are doing, we have been reading about them,” he pointed out.
The senate president, who is in the country to deliver a lecture as part of activities to mark Ghana’s 61st independence anniversary, was accompanied by his colleague speaker of Ghana’s parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, the minority and the majority whips of the Nigerian parliament together with the chairpersons of the Banking, Foreign Affairs and other committees of that country’s senate.
“It’s a great pleasure to be part of the celebration of 25 years of uninterrupted democracy; let me congratulate you and your government on that,” he lauded.
“We are here to be part of the celebration and use that opportunity to strengthen the relationship between our two countries…; the relation goes back many years and I think it’s our responsibility as governments to sustain that special relationship,” he emphasized.
Dr Saraki underscored, “I believe at this time too we have the responsibility to address the challenges of our people regarding unemployment, and reposition the African continent.”
According to him, “We have the resources; we have the people and I think we need to have good governance to be able to drive it and also the right kind of laws.”
The Nigeria senate president also seized the opportunity to thank the government and people of Ghana for their hospitality, noting that there are a number of young Nigerian students in this country (Ghana) who are being treated very well. “I thank you for that and we will continue to work closely together,” he assured.
Vice President Dr Bawumia harped on the cordial relation between the two countries, which he described as deep since both nations jell, saying, “Ghana and Nigeria, we are pretty much the same people…..”
He continued, “It is really an honour to have this powerful delegation here. I think we should find ways to deepen that cooperation. Our paths to economic development are relatively similar; we all have quite significant endowments of natural resources and all of that, and we are all also of the view that we have to move our economies beyond dependency.”
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent