The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio has advocated for a “stronger bond” between the Nigerian Parliament and that of the Russian Federation.
Akpabio made the remarks on Wednesday when Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Nigeria, Mr Andrey Podelyshev paid him a courtesy visit at the National Assembly.
The Senate President told his guest that Nigeria was willing to deepen the relations with the Russian Federation.
Akpabio said: “I am delighted on behalf of my colleagues to have you here and to assure you that we are willing to deepen the relations between Nigeria and the Russian Federation and at the same time, from the Parliamentary aspect, we will be very happy to form a stronger bond between the Parliament of Nigeria and the Parliament of Russia.
“Of course, from history, you have had a lot of relations with Nigeria. From the record, sometimes in 2006, we had a Commission established between Nigeria and Russia, to provide a framework for the implementation of concluded bilateral framework between Nigeria and the Russian Federation.
“You met in 2006 and also in 2009 in Moscow and you met again 2014 in Moscow. You also met in 2016. It is Russia’s turn to host the next Commission’s meeting which is meant to enhance, oil and nurture all bilateral agreements between Nigeria and Russia.
“On the part of the Nigerian Senate, we will be very glad to also have a stronger relations between the Senate and the Upper Chamber of the Russian Federation.”
Akpabio also expressed Nigeria’s openness to partner with Russia to develop the country’s ICT, the Space and Satellite sector.
He said Nigeria appreciated the Russian government in the area of Defence and Military cooperation particularly for its support and assistance in terms of intelligence gathering and sharing of intelligence to aid the fight against terrorism and insurgency in the country.
Also in the field of education, Akpabio thanked the Russian authorities for the scholarship offered to Nigerian students to study in Russia especially in the scientific and and medical fields that will benefit humanity and the society as a whole.
Earlier in his remarks, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Nigeria, Mr Andrey Podelyshev said his visit was a starting point for discussion on how to facilitate relations between the Parliaments of Nigeria and Russia and between the two countries.
The Russian Ambassador called for the setting up of Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group between Nigeria and Russia stressing that “in my view, the establishment of such group will contribute to strengthen interractions between the Parliament of Nigeria and the Parliament of the Russian Federation.”
