The Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D., GCON, has called for technical support from a German group, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) as the National Assembly considers bills to create state police and reserved legislative seats for women in the Nigerian Parliament.

KAS is a German political foundation affiliated with, but independent of, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with a presence in about 100 countries across the globe, including Africa.

While hosting KAS's newly posted Resident Representative to Nigeria, Moritz Sprenker, in Abuja on Monday, Speaker Abbas acknowledged the “long-standing” partnership between the House and the organization, particularly on strengthening Nigeria’s democratic institutions and legislative capacities. 

He recalled how KAS hosted members of the security-related committees of the House in Germany about two years ago.

The Speaker said, “Let me also use this opportunity to seek further support and continued partnerships. We need interventions that can sustain our democracy and improve the performance of our legislative responsibilities. 

“We would love to see KAS taking more interests this time around—besides the security-related areas where you have done well—in the area of the state police that the administration (of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR) and the National Assembly are working on.”

He added, “Again, we have another area where we feel KAS can also give a lot of support, and that is the reserved seats for women. If you take a look at the position of Nigeria in terms of women's representation in the legislature, you will find out that we are like the fourth from the bottom.

"We are supposed to be at the forefront. Unfortunately and sadly, we have not been able to get to where we need to be. But we believe with cooperation and partnership, through sensitisation, we will go a long way in convincing the ‘Doubting Thomases’ that the future of Nigeria cannot be secured or guaranteed without women being a part of it.”

The National Assembly, as part of the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution, is considering bills to decentralise the current unitary structure of the Nigeria Police Force and create state police, as well as the creation of special seats for women in the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly.

While the Speaker welcomed Sprenker to the ‘People’s House,’ he described his predecessor, Marija Peran, as “a wonderful person.” He said, “Through her, we had a lot of mutually beneficial interactions with the House of Representatives.”

Earlier, Sprenker said he resumed in Nigeria in April, and the visit to Speaker Abbas was part of his consultations with relevant stakeholders in his host country.

The KAS Resident Representative, who noted that “Nigeria has been very nice to me so far,” said he has been doing an overview of his organisation’s programmes and partners in Nigeria.

Sprenker noted that KAS works closely with various political stakeholders, including civil society organisations (CSOs), political parties, parliaments, among others, to facilitate trainings and build capacity.

“For us, it is important that we do not come with ready-made solutions. We regard ourselves as facilitators,” he said. 

Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Hon. Babajimi Benson; Chairman, House Committee on Services, Hon. Amos Daniel; and the Chairman, House Committee on North West Development Commission, Hon. (Dr.) Suleiman Abubakar Gumi, were also at the meeting.