Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has called for structured exchanges between Nigerian and British lawmakers to strengthen legislative capacity, improve parliamentary practice and deepen institutional cooperation between both countries.
Akpabio made the call on Wednesday in Abuja during a meeting with the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Peter Vowles, who visited his office to reaffirm the United Kingdom’s commitment to sustaining relations with Nigeria’s National Assembly.
Rather than limiting cooperation to diplomatic engagements and economic ties, the Senate President said both countries could benefit from closer collaboration in legislation, particularly through exchange programmes and interactions between their parliamentary institutions.
He noted that British lawmakers occasionally visit Nigeria’s National Assembly to observe proceedings, while Nigerian parliamentary committees have also visited the House of Lords and House of Commons to learn from their operations.
Akpabio said such engagements should be expanded to provide more opportunities for Nigerian legislators to learn from British parliamentary experience and strengthen the relationship between the two legislatures.
“The history of Nigeria will not be complete without the United Kingdom. For us in Nigeria, London is like a second home,” he said, stressing the need to sustain the historical relationship while extending it to new areas of cooperation.
He added that Nigeria’s relationship with Britain extended beyond legislative and diplomatic affairs to trade, investment and wider economic interests.
The Senate President also cited the recent state visit of President Bola Tinubu to the United Kingdom, saying King Charles III had demonstrated recognition of Nigeria’s importance to Africa’s economic and security interests.
Akpabio maintained that the existing relationship should be sustained through practical engagements capable of delivering benefits to both countries, particularly in parliamentary development and economic cooperation.
He also used the meeting to seek increased British investment in Nigeria’s oil and mining sectors, urging the High Commissioner to communicate investment opportunities in the country to British businesses.
According to him, improvements in the investment climate, ease of doing business and provisions for the repatriation of investment proceeds should encourage foreign investors to explore opportunities in Nigeria.
“As you are here now, you will take the message back to your investors in the UK that this is a country that even if you sell sand, you will make profit,” Akpabio said.
He expressed confidence that investors could benefit from opportunities across the Nigerian economy, urging Britain to strengthen its commercial engagement with the country.
Earlier, Vowles said his visit was intended to convey the British government’s goodwill to the leadership of the National Assembly and reaffirm the breadth of relations between both countries.
He said the UK government had directed its representatives to explore ways of deepening the relationship, adding that Britain was interested in building on existing cooperation with Nigeria.
“The instruction from my government is to find a way to continue to deepen that relationship. We believe that we have made a very important stride together. We want to continue to drive that further together,” the High Commissioner said.
Vowles assured the Nigerian Parliament that Britain would continue to support areas of cooperation identified by the National Assembly, adding that the longstanding relationship with both chambers would be maintained.
The proposed legislative exchanges, if expanded into regular programmes, could provide a framework for sustained engagement between lawmakers of both countries, alongside efforts to attract British investment into Nigeria’s economy.
