A member of the Nigerian Senate delegated to the ECOWAS Parliament, Sen. Biodun Olujimi has called on Parliamentarians of the Economic Community of West African States to set aside their different groupings that lead to unhealthy competition and suspicions currently bedeviling the Parliament.
Speaking at the sidelines of the ECOWAS Parliament’s Parliamentary Seminar which focused on the Application of the Supplementary Act on The Enhancement of The Powers of The Parliament in Light of The Restructuring of The ECOWAS Commission, Sen. Olujimi stated that the effect of the suspicious nature of MPs is grossly affecting the progress of the Parliament as well as its core mandate.
“There is only one thing that I find that we have not spoken about in this seminar, and it is good that we are all here today, it might be offensive to some but one thing is inherently problematic among us.
“As Parliamentarians, we are mutually suspicious of each other, the various countries are suspicious of each other and there is this competition amongst us, and except we do away with them and work as a team, and whatever we have said in this seminar no matter how beautiful will not give us the result that we desire.
“One thing is sure, there are various groupings within this Parliament, it must not continue, we must be able to listen to each other and to understand where every other person is coming from and be able to find a middle cause in all that we are doing with an open mind so that we can all benefit from the problems and the successes of each other. That is keen to what we have discussed in this seminar and that is what will lead us to the success that we are looking out for” she said.
The Nigerian Lawmaker, however, appealed to the MPs to make deliberate efforts in working together with one voice and mind.
“What is important for us is to have a focus, for us to be able to cast what we have done in concrete and to be able to channel our words on work. Everybody is against everybody, for us to achieve results, we must learn from each other, we must benefit from each other and we must not note eachother’s mistakes any longer”, Olujimi said.
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