The Inter-parliamentary Relations Committees of the Houses of Assembly in the South-West have assured of their commitment to strengthen democracy in Nigeria.
The Chairman of the Osun House of Assembly Committee, Mr Adewunmi Adeyemi, gave the assurance on Tuesday, when some of its members from Oyo, Osun and Ondo states paid a visit to the leadership of Ekiti House of Assembly in Ado-Ekiti.
Adeyemi said that the aim for establishing the Inter-parliamentary Relations Committees of the Houses of Assembly was to avail members opportunities to share ideas to strengthen good tenets of legislation across the western region.
“Our visit is going to assist us in sharing initiatives and ideas among ourselves in the South West Houses of Assembly.
“Today, we observed the Ekiti plenary and we have learnt a lot of things. This type of initiative will help us build on different structure of legislation in all the state houses of assembly in the South-West,” the lawmaker said.
He therefore, restated the commitment of the committee members to improve the relationship not only among the houses of assembly in the South-West region, but across Nigeria and beyond in order to strengthen democracy.
Responding, Speaker, Ekiti House of Assembly, Mr Funminiyi Afuye lauded the initiative, saying that the South-West region must have a common area, where it could harness ideas for development.
The speaker said, “do not allow this idea to disappear. There must be continuity in order to ensure peer-learning for development and strengthening of democracy.
Earlier, Mr Stephen Aribasoye, the Chairman, Committee on Inter-parliamentary Relations, Ekiti House of Assembly, said the initiative behind the visit was to underscore the need for collaboration in order to improve on their relationships.
Also on the delegation were Mr Abayomi Akinruntan, and Mr Ololade Gbegudu, the committee’s chairman and member from Ondo State House of Assembly.
Others were, Mr Olagoke Akinjo and Mr Akintunde Emmanuel, Chairman and member from Oyo State Houses of Assembly and Mr Abdullahi Adegbule, member from Osun House of Assembly.
The delegation thereafter visited the ongoing new Iyin Road construction site and the ongoing Civic Center site, all in Ado-Ekiti metropolis.