Teddy Oscar, Abuja
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has described terrorism as a new phenomenon in Nigeria.
Tambuwal, who also called on the United States government to assist Nigeria in the fight for terrorism, spoke while receiving an American delegation led by Rt. Hon. Christopher Smith, Speaker of the American Congress.
Noting that Nigeria is still grappling with terrorism, despite the Federal Government’s swift response, Tambuwal said: “On the issue of terrorism, we have taken extreme measures by declaring state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Gains have been made, save for recent happenings, which further demonstrates that insurgency is not an issue that can be dealt with once. Besides, this is a new phenomenon here in Nigeria. We are looking forward to your help in that regard,” the appealed.
Tambuwal also observed that Nigeria’s march towards stemming modern slavery has been with much determination and collective effort from stakeholders, hinted that the House is working to find a lasting solution to human trafficking.
“The NAPTIP was established to address the challenges we confront on human trafficking and this has been a concerted effort of everyone concerned and we are working at committee level to make more inputs in order to find enduring solutions to this,” he added.
Speaking earlier, Smith said that America is willing to collaborate with Nigeria in fighting terrorism, trafficking in persons and modern day slavery in Nigeria.
“We have worked closely with your committee on Human Rights and have received them at the Capitol Hill, and we are here with you to discuss areas of mutual cooperation to confront security challenges and modern slavery,” Smith, who is also the chairman of the Sub Committee on Africa, Global Health, Human Rights and International Organisation, said.
Meanwhile, Tambuwal has warned politicians to stop overheating the polity ahead of 2015 elections, and advised that there is still ample time for politicking.
According to Tambuwal, who spoke while receiving a delegation of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to caution such politicians.
While expressing concerns that INEC was yet to make public elections time table, Tambuwal observed that it was unfortunate that when 2015 is still about two years ahead, most politicians have abandoned their duties for which they were elected to carry out and engaged in distracting others who are willing to.
“I have always said that our politicians should be very careful in the way they take things about 2015. We must learn to do things within the confines of our laws. INEC has not yet released time table or elections guidelines, but they are busy overheating the politics with most politicians abandoning their duties,” he said.
Earlier, Okey Wali, NBA president, told the speaker that the visit was to call on the members of the lower chamber to strengthen the Nigerian judicial system by passing bills on criminal justice, police, administration of criminal justice among others.
“We appeal to you to pass these bills so that our justice system can be enhanced. We understand some of them have gone through second reading, so we call on you and your colleagues to ensure their quick passage so that public hearings could be conducted on them,” he said.
