By ABUBAKAR YUSUF

The Director-General, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Professor Olarenwaju Abubakar Sulaiman, has stressed the need for Nigeria and Ghana to sustain the success of the democratic rules over the decades in their respective countries.

Prof. Sulaiman made this submission in his office last Wednesday in Abuja. during the visit of Ghana’s Parliament Speaker, Rt. Hon. Alban Sunmanu Kensfort Gbagbin, and members of the Ghana Parliamentary Service Board.

Sulaiman said the similarities and success stories of democratic practices in both countries must be a model to other sister African countries.

The Director-General maintained that thee efforts to keep afloat, the people's representation has emboldened the Act establishing the institute and made it more responsible and responsive agency of government.

He charged the parliaments to harp on legislative re-orientation and democratic practices/ norms.

He recalled the inglorious days of the military interventions and interregnum in the two countries, noting that the return to democratic rule by both countries in 1992 and 1999, has opened a new chapter of sane leadership devoid of forceful actions and reactions.

He commended the Ghanaian delegation on the visit, adding that despite the leading position of Ghana in returning to democracy Nigeria in the current democratic dispensation, the zeal to learn more democratic practices without hesitation was encouraging, given the dynamics of Nigeria's democracy.

He impressed on the Ghanaian parliament that Nigerian democracy was at its full course, saying the country has experienced many democratic gallops with visible solutions over the decades.

He assured the Ghana parliament that the doors of the institute were open to all forms of collaborations and partnerships that would continue to make the democratic dispensation in the two countries and other African nations to flourish.

The Director-General of NILDS stated that aside from sustaining the current democratic successes in Nigeria, efforts were being made through research to acquire more knowledge on the best way to continue to achieve more democratic feats in the years ahead.

He therefore assured that the doors of the institute would always be open to all consultations through bilateral and multilateral engagements at any point in time.

He described Ghana as an age long sister-country, with boundary demarcation separating both countries for easy administrative convenience, saying the countries were looking forward to continue to engage each other at any given opportunity.