According to the special adviser on media and public affairs to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Turaki Hassan, the Speaker of Israali parliament, Knesset Mr. Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, disclosed this during a meeting with Yakubu Dogara on the sildelines of the ongoing Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in New York.
Dogara had solicited for Israal`s support to Nigeria to help end Boko Haram and other security challenges, in addition to attracting investments in agriculture, solid minerals, energy and tourism.
Dogara also called for the establishment of Nigeria-Isreal parliamentary friendship group to help deepen bilateral relations between the two countries.
Responding, Mr. Edelstein said Israal will continue to support Nigeria`s fight against terrorism a,s according to him, there must be global action against insurgency.
Mr. Edelstein said terrorism is a threat to all nations and as such the world must unite to fight it saying: “we must unite to fight terrorism and not to divide them into ‘their terrorist’ and ‘our terrorists’. Israel is committed to fight againt terrorism because terrorists use divisions between nations and even democratic countries.”
Dogara had told Mr. Edelstein that the international community must find a global solution to terrorism as no nation is insulated from its scourge. He said Nigeria’s Northeast region where he comes from has been under Boko Haram occupation and the scale of devastation was unimaginable.
The Speaker further urged the Israelis to invest in Nigeria’s agricultural sector which has the potential to create wealth and generate employment for millions of jobless youths.
He observed Israelis were able to transform a desert nation into one of the most agriculturally viable nation on earth and that other sectors such as solid minerals, energy and tourism have a lot of potential waiting to be tapped.
The Speaker solicited for technical support from the Israeli parliament to enable Nigeria’s National Assembly establish its own security outfit by equipping the Sergeant-At-Arms.
He said plans are in progress to tranform the Sergeant-At-Arms into a modern and sophisticated security outfit as it is obtainable in other parliaments.
The Speaker also disclosed plans to establish a Nigeria-Israel parliamentary friendship group and said he will be visiting Israel in October to pay a courtesy call on his counterpart there.
SunNews
