 Honored guests, ladies and gentlemen, may I welcome you again to Nigeria and thank you for very kindly hosting me this morning when I represented our president at the opening of the conference. I trust that you have all enjoyed your dinner this evening. I must say that it is such a sumptuous meal because of the generous budgetary provision of the National Assembly. And perhaps those sitting close to me would notice that I ate everything on my plate. My reason for doing this is simple. I do not want a situation where when the honorable members of the National Assembly come on their oversight visit, they may accuse me of wasting resources. But I'm greatly comforted by the fact that the right Honorable Justin Moutiri, whose side right next to me is my witness. You will notice that I did not cite the right Honorable Speaker of the House, Nigeria, the Honorable Femme Bajabiamila as my witness. The truth is that only the right Honorable Moutiri will be believed being an independent witness. In this heavily charged partisan political atmosphere, Speaker Femme Bajabiamila's testimony will be considered compromised because he and I belong to the same political party and we're both from Lagos. Let me commend you all for an informative and enjoyable opening ceremony. It was really informative and very enjoyable indeed. But I must say that since the Honorable Dr. Zainab Gimba said this morning that women hold half the sky and that if they get angry, they may let it fall, I've been deeply worried because I suspect that if they were to let half the sky fall, they will let it fall on we men who of course they rightly hold responsible for discrimination against them. I've therefore pledged to ensure that I take gender equality issues seriously so that in the unlikely event that the sky falls, it will fall with gender equality in mind on all of us. Frankly, I've always resisted being called a politician and I don't know how many politicians here feel that way. Politicians are always maligned. I'm a lawyer, you know, I also serve as a pastor. But I must tell you that I've really been changing my mind and getting more comfortable with the idea of being a politician and being called a politician, especially because I've been hearing some really good stories lately about politicians. For example, just last week in Ghana, a West African head of state for whom I have tremendous respect told this story. And he swore to me that it was told to him by a Reverend father. So I believe him. He said two men, two men died on the same day. They were advanced in years. One, a very distinguished, revered bishop. And the other, a well-known politician. They died on the same day. They both went to heaven. The first to arrive in heaven, believe it or not, was a bishop. And he was met by several angels. And they took him in a small car to his modest house, where he was to reside until the evening when everyone would gather again. Then the politician arrived in heaven. And the whole place was a buzz. He was received by double the angels that received the bishop and was driven in a grand limousine to his palatial residence. The bishop looked out of the window of his modest house and said, how can this politician, who I knew to make promises he never kept, be treated so much better than me? But that evening, when the new arrivals gathered at a sport where they gather, the bishop went up to Angel Gabriel and made his complaint. How can this politician be treated better than a bishop? And the angel, Gabriel, pulled him aside and said, bishop, the reason is that we don't usually see these people here in heaven. So whenever we see one, we are so excited. We usually don't see them. So let me again commend the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association for taking these associations affairs seriously. The attendance at the conference from so many countries is truly remarkable. It is to your credit that the Commonwealth has evolved into a global community that's not merely united by a shared past or even, as some have unfairly charged, mere colonial nostalgia. It is bound by common values and a shared vision of the future. The question that should constantly occupy us is what this future would be and how we can bring it into being. This is a cause to which we should, since destiny, apply our minds and energies. As I said this morning, please enjoy Nigeria, especially culinary delights. Some of you might know that aside from football, Nigeria's rivalry with our brothers in Ghana is also over food. There has been a raging controversy over who makes the better Jollof rice, Ghana or Nigeria. And I would like you as distinguished and fair-minded legislators to taste Jollof rice so that you can judge fairly and justly that Nigeria indeed has the best Jollof rice. All say I. So let me thank you again for choosing Nigeria as a venue of your meeting. I'm for honoring our invitation to this dinner. I wish you all a safe trip back home and we look forward to seeing you again in Nigeria soon. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the evening.