Politics

Nigeria clinches two positions in CoSPAL leadership as Tinubu’s CoS, SAA get elected

Speaker Gbajabiamila

…while Kalu proposes periodic review of performance in Constitution amendment

By Tom Okpe

Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila has been elected as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Conference of Speakers and Presidents of African Legislatures, CoSPAL.

Similarly, the Senior Special Assistant, SSA, to the President on International Cooperation, Dapo Oyewole has also been elected as the Secretary-General of the body.

This is as the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, Alban Kingsford Bagbin was also, returned as Chairman of the top Legislators’ Forum.

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Their elections took place on Saturday at the 2nd General Assembly meeting of the Conference of Speakers and Presidents of African Legislatures, CoSPAL, Accra, Ghana.

According to Levinus Nwabughiogu, Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Speaker in a press statement in Abuja on Sunday, the event brought together over 100 participants, including 15 Speakers and Presidents of National Legislatures, 30 Deputy Speakers and Presidents, Clerks/Secretary Generals and supporting staff of Parliaments and National Assemblies, across Africa.

COSPAL as a body of all Speakers and Presidents of Parliament across the 54 African countries was established in 2020 to facilitate increased deliberation, collaboration, and cooperation between Speakers and Presidents of Parliaments and National Assemblies on the continent to help, address common challenges, devise joint strategies, and mobilise collective action to advance Africa’s democratic development.

Gbajabiamila who is the immediate past Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives was the founding Speaker and first Chairman of CoSPAL in 2020.

Attending the event on Saturday, the serving Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep Benjamin Okezie Kalu who represented the Speaker, Rep Tajudeen Abbas, canvassed the need for Nigeria to take two out of the five positions to fill the slots from West Africa.

CoSPAL’s constitution provides for 5 Vice Chairpersons as members of audit and advisory Committee’s respectively, to produce one representative from the 5 subregions of the continent, which included East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, North Africa and Southern Africa.

In his contributions to the rectification of various articles of COSPAL’s Constitution, Kalu said: “I propose a periodic review of the Secretariat’s performance to encourage efficiency, transparency and integrity, as reflected in Article 10.

“I also, propose an appeal process in the case of termination of membership in Article 16, recommending flexibility of Article 17, that a clear definition of the word, ‘exceptional circumstances,’ in the interpretative clause of the article, amongst others be ensured.”

The recommendations were eventually voted and adopted by the General Assembly.

Essentially, the 2nd General Assembly Conference is consolidating on the gains of the 1st General Assembly to foster unity and collaborative governance among African legislatures.

The newly elected officials are scheduled for inauguration on Sunday, final day of the conference.

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