Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has called for full integration of Africa through the use of legislative instrument to have a common passport, market and a single customs and monetary union for the continent.
Speaking at the 51st conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Africa Region, which opened in Abuja Thursday, Gbajabiamila said there was need to “agree to use the instruments of trade and common markets to set us irreversibly on the path to a future of honourable peace, abiding prosperity and brotherhood amongst the nations of Africa.”
The conference was declared open by President Muhammadu Buhari, represented by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Gbajabiamila, in his welcome address, noted that the CPA Africa Region had and would continue to play an essential role in advancing democracy in Africa, adding that it provided an opportunity for parliamentarians across Africa to engage with and learn from each other about the challenges they shared and the strategies for overcoming them.
To his colleagues he said: “Let us commit ourselves to using the tools of parliamentary diplomacy and authority to enable the achievement of a common passport, a common market and a single customs and monetary union that will make full African integration possible. Let us agree to use the instruments of trade and common markets to set us irreversibly on the path to a future of honourable peace, abiding prosperity and brotherhood amongst the nations of Africa.”
