African countries need better transport inter-connectivity, cooperation, integration— Speaker Abbas

<p>The Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen on Wednesday called for a better transportation system that connects African countries for better integration and cooperation.</p>, <p>The Speaker gave the charge at the ongoing 18th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC), Africa Region, in Yaoundé, Cameroon.</p>, <p>While stressing the need for better socio-cultural and economic cooperation among African countries, he said: “I want to chip in something on what my Namibian colleague experienced concerning our challenges when it comes to transportation in Africa.</p>, <p>“This is not just peculiar to the East African side, even we in the West African countries where Cameroon is one of the countries, I am sorry to inform you that this is my very first time of visiting Cameroon, even though Nigeria shares a common border with Cameroon.</p>, <p>“Under normal circumstances, it does not take 15 to 20 minutes drive from one part of Nigeria to Cameroon. But because of the issues of logistics that we are facing on air transportation and land as well, you will find out that majority of Cameroon don’t know what is happening in their neighbouring countries and vice versa.</p>, <p>“How can you foster economic and social cooperation when people – neighbours – don’t even know anything about each other?</p>, <p>“So, we need to really work not only on air; we need to try ways of improving our land transportation like railway connectivity. Take an example when you for to Europe – the Schengen areas, it takes you less than one hour from one country to another.</p>, <p>“And you will do it so seamlessly without knowing that you have passed a country and you are in the next country,” Abbas said.</p>, <p>The Speaker, while sharing some of the experiences and the actions that the National Assembly of Nigeria had taken towards better African unity, noted that both the Senate and the House had each created a Committee on African Integration and Cooperation “to look at how we can