House of Commons, Rt. Hon. Sir Lindsay Hoyle
By Milton Tella – The High Commissioner of Nigeria to the United Kingdom, His Excellency, Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola recently recorded another historic opportunity to deepen the bond betweenBritain and Nigeria during his official appearance before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons.
The Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt. Hon. Sir Lindsay Hoyle hosted the Nigerian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, His Excellency, Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola at a private meeting in his official residence soon after the High Commissioner’s address to the House of Commons.
The meeting between the High Commissioner H.E. Sarafa Tunji Isola and the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt. Hon. Sir Lindsay Hoyle took place on 8th February 2022 at the official residence of the Speaker in a warm and cordial atmosphere.
The meeting was the first time a Nigerian High Commissioner had been officially hosted by the Speaker of the House of Commons and represented a symbolic height in the bilateral relations of the two nations, as the flag of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was flown over the Parliament for the entire day.
The meeting provided a platform for engagement on shared cultural and historical ties between both nations, as well as the collective interest of both nations to deepen already cordial relations and enhance mutual benefits.
The High Commissioner, Ambassador Tunji Isola seized the opportunity to harp on his aspirations for the active rekindling of bilateral relations between the two countries. The High Commissioner proceeded to highlight significant points of note on Nigeria-UK bilateral relations, as the UK had fallen behind countries like Germany, India and China in terms of investments in Nigeria. He called for deeper engagements in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s priorities on economy and security and further urged that the Speaker to consider the feasibility of a regular dialogue of parliamentarians from both countries who would be able to engage themselves better in the interest of Nigeria and the United Kingdom with an emphasis on the several opportunities that have arisen from Brexit.
Speaker Hoyle thanked the High Commissioner for the visit and expressed alignment with the views of the High Commissioner, reaffirming that the issues raised are also shared interests and further offered to deploy the soft power of his office to promote an enhancement of Nigeria-UK Bilateral relations.
The meeting came to a close with an exchange of commemorative gifts between the High Commissioner and the Speaker followed by a brief photo session.
Beyond the issues of bilateral interests between Nigeria and the United Kingdom, it is noteworthy that the visit further revealed deeper positive contributions of a number of Nigerians working in the household of the Speaker. One of such outstanding Nigerians is Ugbana Oyet, the Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons.
Ugbana was born in Calabar, Nigeria and moved to the UK during secondary school. His parents instilled in him Judaeo-Christian values and a strong work ethic; his first job was serving snacks in a café, aged six. At secondary school, Ugbana joined the Boys’ Brigade, instilling in him the values of serving others, discipline, and integrity.
Ugbana read electrical engineering at Southampton University and began his engineering career in Dorset, moving to projects working on Bournemouth University, the Poole Pottery site and Hampshire Country Council. He then moved to Abu Dhabi to lead the design for the development, Al Zeina, overlooking the Formula 1 racetrack followed by the Al Falah City in Saudi Arabia. Ugbana is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
Ugbana joined Parliament in 2012 as the lead electrical engineer leading on the Long-term Engineering programme. This evolved into Restoration and Renewal and the Estate Wide Engineering Infrastructure and Resilience strategy, aiming to reduce Parliament’s carbon footprint, achieve net zero by 2050 and reduce operational costs on utilities.
Ugbana was appointed Serjeant at Arms in October 2019 and is the House of Commons’ first black Serjeant at Arms in the post’s 600-year history.
The office of Serjeant at Arms dates back to 1415 and the reign of Henry V when the Serjeant was responsible for carrying out the orders of the House of Commons.
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