Speaker Abbas advocates increased Germany-Nigeria collaboration to advance democracy

<p>The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen on Tuesday called for more collaborations and engagements between the Nigerian National Assembly and the German Parliament also known as The Bundestag.</p>, <p>The Speaker gave the charge in Abuja during an interactive session with the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Annett Günther, who urged Germany to emulate the United Kingdom in the advancement and sustenance of democracy in Nigeria.</p>, <p>Ambassador Günther was accompanied by the Head of Political, Matthias Dold, and the Political Officer, Uduak-Abasi Akpabio, on the visit.</p>, <p>Speaker Abbas said: “I want to appreciate the long-standing and historical relationship between Nigeria and Germany, which spans more than 60 years. To the best of my knowledge, it has been a mutually beneficial relationship. Both the German and Nigerian governments have benefitted immensely from the relationship. I am proud to say that in Africa today, we are one of the major partners of Germany in diplomatic relationships.</p>, <p>“We believe this can be further exploited in the future, and there are so many other areas that we can look into, to deepen our relationship with you. In due course, we will highlight some of those areas of economic advantage to both Germany and Nigeria.</p>, <p>“We want to see more and increased collaboration in the area of cultural ties between Germany and Nigeria. I know we are doing fairly well in that respect, but there are so many areas that we are yet to touch.</p>, <p>“One area of major concern to us is further collaboration in what we do here, that is legislative collaboration between the parliaments of Germany and Nigeria.</p>, <p>“We want to see in the next coming years, particularly under this administration, how we can further strengthen collaboration and relationship between the parliaments of Germany and Nigeria,” Speaker Abbas urged.</p>, <p>The Speaker therefore stressed the possibilities of strengthening the legislative relationship between Nigeria and Germany “in a s