For Nigeria’s Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, parliamentary diplomacy has become an increasingly important dimension of his legislative responsibilities, reflecting a role that now extends beyond the traditional boundaries of domestic lawmaking.

Since his emergence as Deputy Speaker in June 2023, Kalu has steadily occupied strategic platforms where Nigeria’s legislative priorities intersect with regional integration, continental development and global policymaking. His engagements across the ECOWAS Parliament, the Pan-African Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) have placed him within some of the most significant forums for contemporary parliamentary diplomacy.

His growing international footprint is, however, defined less by the number of platforms he has attended than by the issues he has brought to those platforms.

At the ongoing 153rd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Arusha, Tanzania, Kalu again demonstrated the increasingly policy-driven character of his international parliamentary engagements, making a forceful case for urgent legislative action to confront climate-related disasters while positioning Nigeria as an emerging destination for climate-resilient investment.

Speaking during the debate on the emergency item, titled “Urgent parliamentary action to address climate-related disasters and strengthen resilience,” the Deputy Speaker framed the climate crisis not merely as an environmental question, but as a development, economic and social imperative.

He drew attention to the realities confronting communities across the world, from irregular rainfall and declining agricultural yields to coastal erosion, rising waters, flooding and unreliable energy supply.

For Nigeria, he argued, climate action must ultimately be measured by its impact on ordinary citizens: whether farmers can continue to produce food despite changing weather patterns, whether households can access affordable and reliable electricity, whether young people can find dignified employment, and whether communities and cities can withstand the growing consequences of extreme weather.

That framing marked an important shift from climate diplomacy as a conversation dominated by pledges to one centred on legislation, investment and measurable outcomes.

Kalu told fellow parliamentarians that Nigeria was not attending the global forum simply to repeat the call for climate finance. Rather, the country was presenting an investment proposition built around a growing pipeline of commercially viable and climate-resilient projects, backed by public policy, legislation and institutions.

He pointed to Nigeria’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2060 and the country’s Energy Transition Plan as evidence of a development-centred approach to the green transition.

The Deputy Speaker highlighted the scale of the opportunity, noting that Nigeria’s energy transition pathway requires hundreds of billions of dollars in additional capital investment. Rather than viewing the requirement solely as a financing deficit, he presented it as an investment horizon capable of generating new markets, modernising infrastructure, creating green jobs, encouraging innovation and strengthening long-term economic resilience.

For Kalu, the responsibility of parliamentarians is therefore not limited to debating the climate crisis. Legislatures, he argued, must create the legal certainty and institutional environment required to convert climate ambitions into investable projects and tangible development.

He identified areas ranging from renewable energy, solar mini-grids and battery storage to clean cooking, electricity transmission and distribution, climate-smart agriculture, irrigation, cold-chain logistics and resilient rural infrastructure as areas where Nigeria can attract investment while addressing pressing development needs.

His intervention also extended to electric mobility, mass transit, waste-to-value systems, methane reduction, circular-economy enterprises and green manufacturing, alongside adaptation measures such as flood-control systems, resilient drainage, coastal protection, climate-resilient housing and infrastructure.

The underlying message was that developing countries cannot approach climate change exclusively through the lens of emissions reduction.

For countries such as Nigeria, Kalu maintained, adaptation is equally urgent because millions of people are already experiencing the effects of flooding, land degradation, food insecurity, extreme weather and climate-related displacement.
This, he said, makes climate finance a question not only of mitigation but also of human resilience.

He proposed that the Arusha debate should not end as another international conversation, but should serve as the beginning of a structured legislative intervention capable of developing an investor-ready pipeline of priority projects and creating platforms to move viable projects from conception to bankability, financing and implementation.

That approach is increasingly characteristic of Kalu’s international parliamentary engagements: connecting Nigeria’s domestic legislative agenda with broader conversations about Africa’s development, economic integration, democracy, climate resilience and global cooperation.

Recognition beyond Nigeria

The significance of Kalu’s intervention was also reflected in the reaction it generated on the sidelines of the IPU 153rd Assembly.

Canadian Senator Mohamed-Iqbal Ravalia, who said he had interacted with the Deputy Speaker at previous international parliamentary meetings, offered a strong personal assessment of Kalu’s contributions to global parliamentary discourse.

Ravalia described Kalu as “brilliant” and “strategic,” while commending his advocacy for Africa and his ability to articulate issues affecting people across the continent.

“I’ve witnessed his role as a rapporteur and he, in my opinion, is brilliant, strategic, he’s a great advocate for our beautiful continent of Africa,” he said.

For Ravalia, whose personal connection to Africa stems from being born and raised in Zimbabwe, Kalu’s advocacy carries particular significance.

He noted that having someone with Kalu’s credibility, ability and knowledge speak on issues affecting Africans and displaced populations was remarkable.

The senator consequently extended his commendation to Kalu and the Nigerian delegation for what he described as their advocacy on behalf of displaced people.

The endorsement is significant because it underscores an emerging dimension of Kalu’s parliamentary profile: his international role is increasingly being assessed not merely through the offices he occupies, but through the quality and substance of his interventions.

From representation to parliamentary diplomacy

Kalu’s trajectory illustrates how Nigeria’s National Assembly is increasingly using parliamentary diplomacy as an avenue for advancing national interests beyond conventional bilateral and executive diplomacy.

The ECOWAS Parliament provides a platform for regional integration and West African cooperation. The Pan-African Parliament broadens that engagement to continental questions, while the IPU places Nigerian legislators within the wider global parliamentary system.

Across these levels, Kalu’s engagements have increasingly centred on issues with direct implications for Nigeria and Africa — economic integration, trade, development, democratic governance, climate resilience, peace and the continent’s role in shaping global policy.

For Kalu, the opportunity appears to lie in converting Nigeria’s parliamentary voice into influence ensuring that conversations taking place in global legislative forums translate into policies, partnerships and opportunities capable of producing tangible outcomes at home.

His intervention in Arusha therefore represents more than another appearance at an international parliamentary gathering.
It is part of a broader evolution in which Nigeria’s Deputy Speaker is increasingly operating at the intersection of domestic legislation and international engagement, bringing the concerns of Nigerian citizens and the development priorities of Africa into conversations that shape the global policy agenda.

Udora Orizu writes from Abuja