Saraki leads senators on three-day trip to Germany

Senate President Bukola Saraki will on Tuesday lead a five-man delegation on a three-day visit to Bundestag, the German parliament.

Yusuph Olaniyonu, special adviser on media and publicity to the senate president, disclosed this in a statement.

Olaniyonu said the visit is aimed at promoting economic relations between Nigeria and Germany, as well as for the purpose of peer review.

He added that the delegation would also meet German-African business groups

Members of the delegation include Bala Ibn Na’allah, deputy leader of the senate; Monsurat Sunmonu, chairman, foreign affairs committee; Enyinnaya Abaribe, chairman, committee on power; and Abubakar Kyari, chairman, committee on defense.

The visit will commence with a trip to a German village, Feldheim, which was the first community in the country to achieve 100 percent self-sufficiency in renewable energy.

“This will enable the Nigerian delegation to learn a few things on how to resolve the nation’s perennial energy crisis,” Olaniyonu said.

“The senators will at different times meet with Dreye, the president of the Bundestag, Johannes Singhammer, her deputy, Thomas Silberhorn, the parliamentary state secretary in charge of the federal ministry for economic co-operation and development, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Walter J. Lindener, head of Julius Berger, and, Ralf Wieland, president of the Berlin house of representatives.

“They will also hold discussions with economic representatives of the German-African business association, the parliamentary friendship group for relations with the English and Portuguese speaking states of west and central Africa of the Bundestag and attend plenary of the German parliament.

“The legislators, apart from visiting important legislative institutions in Berlin, will hold discussions with Nigerian embassy officials and discuss possible ways of engaging with the German authorities to further attract German investment into Nigeria and improve economic relations between both countries.”