By Raphael Ekpang
President of the Senate and Leader of Nigeria’s delegation to the just concluded 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), in Geneva Switzerland, Godswill Akpabio, has urged Nigerians to be sacrificial, and carry one another along, saying that Jesus came to die for mankind in order to liberate us, so we should be sacrificial in our approach to life.
Akpabio gave his Easter message on Thursday, on his arrival at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja from Geneva, Switzerland the venue of the IPU meeting. He was received on arrival, by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Dr Saviour Enyiekere and some of his aides.
The Executive Committee member of the IPU, disclosed to the Media on arrival that Nigeria, as a nation, particularly our women, would benefit a lot from the meeting of the delegation with the Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala.
The senate president said they met with the Director General of WTO and we discovered that their fund in hanging which our women can leverage on to improve their business, small and medium scale enterprises and we shall be discussing that with the executive, particularly with Mr. President and set up a committee to work with them to ensure that Nigerian women also benefit from there.
Akpabio said the mission to Geneva comes with a lot of positives for Nigeria on the global stage, stressing that his push for stronger parliamentary diplomacy to restore peace in the world especially in Gaza has not only gained traction in major parliaments across the world but is also beginning to yield positive results in current efforts at ending the conflict between Israel and Gaza.
According to him, “you noticed that almost everything that I said is almost what is happening now. Israel has agreed to release prisoners and at the same time, the other side have started negotiating to also release hostages. So we believe the major thing now is ceasefire to allow for humanitarian aids get to the children, women and the people of Gaza and after that, we can discuss some sustainable means of bringing peace to that region.
“Nigeria cannot be an island, with 250million people, our voices should always be heard wherever we go to. I think what we brought back was the integrity of Nigeria and the fact that we are back at world stage with President Bola Tinubu, don”t forget that he is also the chairman of ECOWAS. It is important they hear from him through the parliament.
Reacting to the letter from Senator Abdul Ningi’s lawyer, Chief Femi Falana, SAN that Senator Ningi be reinstated and paid all his entitlement in seven days or face court action, Akpabio said although he’s yet to see the letter by Ningi’s lawyer Femi Falana, the matter would be resolved like a family affair and hopefully Ningi would return shortly.
He further said that the Senate would give the letter of Senator Abdul Ningi asking the Senate to withdraw the three months suspension it slammed on him all the necessary attention, expressing hope that the federal lawmaker representing Bauchi Central would soon return to the senate.
The Senate President wished President Tinubu who is celebrating his birthday today (Good Friday) more health, more prosperity. Above all “we wish him peace of the Lord that passeth all understanding.”
