The Parliament of Ghana has expressed interest in partnering with Nigeria’s National Assembly to enhance the capacity and legislative skills of its members.

The partnership will be achieved through training and knowledge exchange at the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS).

A delegation of Ghanaian lawmakers, led by James Aganga, made this known during a benchmarking visit to the National Assembly in Abuja.

Speaking at Tuesday’s plenary, Mr Aganga explained that the visit focused on understudying Nigeria’s legislative security architecture and the operations of its committees on security.

He commended the warm reception extended to his team by the leadership of the National Assembly, describing it as a reflection of the strong bond between both countries.

The Ghanaian lawmaker said that the visit had provided valuable insights into Nigeria’s parliamentary processes, committee system and legislative support structures.

He said that the team met with the clerk of the National Assembly, who briefed them on the configuration of the legislature and the administrative processes supporting lawmaking and oversight.

Mr Aganga stated that the delegation also met with the clerk of the House of Representatives, who detailed the inner workings of the green chamber.

He, however, said that the delegation’s visit to NILDS was particularly inspiring, describing the institute as ‘a model for parliamentary development in Africa.’

He said, “Our mission here is a benchmarking visit to the National Assembly to understudy the security architecture of Nigeria and to apprise ourselves of the workings of the committees on security. More importantly, we paid a courtesy visit to the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), and that visit was very insightful for us.

“Nigeria has taken the lead by establishing an institute of that kind, designed to build the capacity of members of the assemblies. That, for us, is an innovation, and on our return, we will raise the issue with our speaker to see how we can collaborate for the training of members of our parliament.

“We hope that with that kind of bilateral arrangement between our parliament and the National Assembly of Nigeria, the capacity of our members can be enhanced so that we are able to deliver on our mandate more effectively as the people’s representatives. We bring you greetings from the speaker and leadership of the parliament of Ghana. We thank you for the opportunity given. We are grateful indeed.”

Responding, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, thanked the lawmakers for the visit and the kind words.

“We wish you a happy stay here in Nigeria and a safe journey back to Ghana,” he said. 

(NAN)