I was invited as the Chairman of the House Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa of the Nigerian National Assembly, alongside other members of National Parliaments across continents, to be a member of the Parliamentarians for Peace (P4P) program.
It is my honour to work with Parliamentarians from different countries through virtual online meetings and in-person gathering of global leaders to develop the 2021 Peace Policy Platform (3P) addressing the 4th Normandy for Peace Forum’s theme : “World peace and global security: how to govern peace?”
Some of my submissions regarding global peace included - but not limited to - bringing to the front burner issues that affect Africa such as bad governance, corruption, poor healthcare, lack of access to safe water, unemployment etc. Equitable distribution of resources and the need to strike a balance between how people live and should live must form the underpinning strategy for regional and global peace.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of global health care infrastructure and cooperation. Therefore, towards the preparedness against further global health challenges, there is a need to compel national governments, donor agencies, and the private sector to mobilize funding to improve primary healthcare services, providing necessary infrastructures and facilities, encouraging remuneration and compensation for health workers.
There is a need for urgent decisions on matters of health promotion, disease control, access to medicines, food security and quality water. It is also important that adequate efforts are made towards more diligent research to detect threats, identify the health challenges peculiar to a country or region and cooperation to stop the spread through movement of the people or animals from one place to the other.
Highlighting possible reason(s) behind the frustration of the programmes and agenda of the United Nations, African Union and ECOWAS vis-a-vis their limited successes, I established that, usually, not capturing certain parameters when designing programmes has been largely a determining factor. I also fingered the usual top-down rather than bottom-up approach as the harbinger.
The most engaging policies are ones people feel a part of. There is a need to continuously engage the representatives of the people from the grassroot in decision making processes so as to protect their interest.
Discussions as Parliamentarians should be more on how to bring good governance to the table, proffering a political solution that will be a deliberate attempt to entrench security and peace globally. There is an urgent need to stop what brings about crisis, war and refugees instead of focusing on international interventions of food and shelter to help the refugees.
Hon. Mohammed Umaru Bago is a 3rd term serving Member of the House Representatives, National Assembly, Nigeria. Elected since 2011 from Chanchaga Federal Constituency, he has served as members of various committees and as Chairman of the House Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration (2015-2019). He currently serves as the Chairman of the House Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa and in the Airforce, Anti Corruption, Capital Market and Institution, Labour Employment & Productivity, Media & Public Affairs, Ports & Labour, Steel Committees of the National Assembly.