NIGERIA AND BRITAIN HAVE A LOT IN COMMON, BY DR. ONIYANGI Nigeria and Britain have a lot in common and the democracy which Nigeria is practicing was put in place by Britain but fine tuned by Nigeria. This observation was made yesterday by the Acting Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Abdulkadir Oniyangi, when a delegation of the United Kingdom Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee visited the Commission. The Delegation, led by Mr. Michael Gapes was accompanied by the Head of Political Section, British High Commission and officials of Department for International Development (DFID) in Nigeria. Receiving the delegation on behalf of the Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Ag. Chairman, Dr. Oniyangi apologized for the absence of the Chairman who is currently on ECOWAS assignment outside the country. The Ag. Chairman expressed appreciation of the Commission for the visit and urged the delegation to feel at home in Nigeria just like Nigerians do when they are in the UK. Dr.Oniyangi and some National Commissioners present clarified issues raised by the delegation, which bordered on electoral operations of the Commission, how it monitors the activities of the Political Parties and most especially the security situation in some parts of the country. Briefing the Ag. Chairman on the mission of the Committee, Mr. Gapes said that the delegation was in the Commission to find out how it was coping with the security situation in Nigeria and other challenges ahead of the 2015 general elections. Mr. Gapes disclosed that the Committee had been visiting other African Countries to discuss issues relating to security, social and economic and how they are affecting countries’ democratic process and also to have understanding on how the countries were coping with those challenges. The Delegation also requested to know the procedure for appointment of Chairman of the Commission and National Commissioners, system of production of voters register, criteria for registration of political parties and how the Commission relates with them. The members of UK parliament are: Mr Michael Gapes, Mark Handrick, Sandia Osbome, Andrew Rosindell and Frank Roy. They were accompanied by: Catherine Weiss, DFID Political Governance Adviser; Oliver Blake, DFID Nigeria Head of Governance and Social Development; Peter McCrath, Clerk of Committee and Point of Contact for all MPs in the delegation.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 03:55:04 +0000
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