Nigeria, Turkey Set to Strengthen Parliamentary Ties

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday said that Nigeria and Turkey were set to strengthen their parliamentary ties by establishing friendship groups between the parliaments of the two countries.

Gbajabiamila stated this while hosting the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Hidayet Bayraktar, during a courtesy visit in Abuja, adding that the House would establish the friendship group in a couple of days.

He said: “We appreciate this. Obviously, there are some issues we need to discuss. This is our first engagement, and we will continue to engage. We, in the ninth House, have deployed what we call ‘Legislative Diplomacy’ to see how we can address diplomatic issues. I’m glad that you brought the issue of the parliamentary friendship group. We’ll explore all the areas: security, economy, politics, agriculture and all that. We’ll establish that group in the next couple of days and look out to our engagement in September-October.”

Earlier, Bayraktar said there has been a cordial relationship between the two countries, but there is the need to strengthen parliamentary ties.

He said that his country had sometime in 2018 established a Turkish-Nigeria parliamentary friendship group, calling for such in the Nigerian Parliament.

He also said that it would not be out of place for Gbajabiamila to consider a visit to Turkey to boost the relationship between the parliaments of the two countries.

The Turkish Ambassador added that he would be glad to see a smooth relationship between the parliaments of the two nations.