By Femi Ogunshola
Speaker House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila has commended the outgoing British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms Catriona Laing, for her selfless service and collaborative efforts with the Nigerian Parliament.
Gbajabiamila gave the commendation when he received Laing and her team during a farewell visit to him at the National Assembly in Abuja.
The collaborative efforts, the speaker said, spanned Laing’s five-year assignment in the country.
Gbajabiamila said during her term, Laing provided a lot of support to the House, which he said was helpful to the Parliament.
“We will miss you, Nigeria will miss you, and the Parliament will miss you,” Gbajabiamila said.
He said, “it is a bittersweet visit, I will call it, saying sweet because it is always good to have you around, and bitter because you are going.
“I personally enjoyed a great working relationship with you,” he said.
He said himself and Laing over time, had robust and engaging interactions, adding that It was a very enriching time for him.
“My prayer is that whoever succeeds you on that trajectory will carry on with the good job, I thank you for the interest in the work that we do here.
” You played a very critical role in the mentorship programme that I launched. At your age, I believe you still have so much to offer your country.”
He said one of the bills that the High Commission contributed to, was the Electoral Act (Amendment Bill 2022), which was passed and was eventually signed into law.
Earlier, Ms. Catriona told the Speaker that she witnessed two election cycles in Nigeria, having resumed as the British High Commissioner to Nigeria in 2018.
She described her experience in the country as wonderful, saying she was happy to have worked with Mr. Speaker on a number of issues, and bills were passed during the period.
She expressed optimism that her successor would be glad to work with the Speaker, while commending the speaker for his support for women’s empowerment.(NAN)
