Saraki canvasses support against world’s ‘greatest enemy’

Bukola Saraki

The president of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki, has called on world leaders to join forces to eliminate terrorism, which he described as “the greatest enemy”.

At during a bilateral meeting with the Speaker of the Parliament of Iran, Ali Larijani, at the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in St. Petersburg, Russia , Mr. Saraki said it is the collective responsibility of world leaders to combat the menace of terrorism and reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to the fight.

“When we were younger, the world was not at this level in the fight against terrorism, so we owe the generations after us the duty to do our best to eradicate it. We must all work closely against this common enemy,” he said.

Advocating strengthening of bilateral relations between Nigeria and Iran in the area of oil and gas, the Senate President said a strong relationship would be to the mutual benefits of both countries.

He emphasised the importance of collaboration and exchange of ideas for both countries to be able to do more business in the oil and gas sector.

Mr. Saraki said his meeting with Mr. Larijani was a step towards establishing parliamentary relationship between Nigeria and Iran.

He commended the hard work of the Iranian embassy in Nigeria as well as the ambassador and hoped that a closer relationship between the two parliaments can be encouraged after the meeting.

Expressing gratitude to Mr. Larijani for the opportunity of the meeting, Mr. Saraki said he was optimistic that there would be more meetings to strengthen the relationship between the Nigerian and Iranian parliaments.

In his remarks, Mr. Larijani said he called for the meeting to be able to establish a relationship with the Nigerian parliament, reiterating the need for concerted effort by heads of states in the fight against terrorism in view of its escalating nature.

Laying emphasis on Nigerian-Iranian relation, Mr. Larijani said “both countries need to find ways of expanding both trade and parliamentary relations”.

He assured Nigeria of Iran’s readiness to develop a relationship with it in the area of oil and gas and other beneficial areas and urged Mr. Saraki to visit Iran as a step towards consolidating the relationship between both parliaments.