Nigeria's parliament has voted to send a delegation¹ to Saudi Arabia to check on President Umaru Yar'Adua's health.

尼日利亚议会将投票选举一名代表赶赴沙特阿拉伯确认一下总统的健康状况。

There is growing concern in Nigeria over the president's absence

The president has been in a Jeddah hospital since November, being treated for a heart condition.

Earlier, in his first public remarks in 50 days, he told the BBC he was recovering and hoped to be able to return to Nigeria to resume his duties.

His long absence and speculation推测，思索 over his health have led to calls for him to hand over power to his vice-president.

In its first session since the Christmas and New Year break, the national assembly passed resolutions决议，决心 requesting greater disclosure揭发，揭露 of the president's condition and to send a delegation to visit him in hospital to discuss "issues of national importance", AFP news agency said.

No date has been set for the visit.

The resolution was passed after a group of opposition³ leaders and other prominent Nigerians led several hundred people in a rally集会 outside the national assembly to call for the president to delegate executive power to his deputy.

The official silence over the president's health has fuelled rumours⁴ that he was critically ill - or even dead - and unable to return to power.

Doctors said in December that Mr Yar'Adua, 58, was suffering from acute pericarditis急性心包炎, an inflammation炎症，发炎 of the sac液囊，囊 surrounding the heart. He is also known to have kidney problems.

The fact that he did not designate指定 that his vice-president should take over in his absence has led to fears of a power vacuum and a potential constitutional crisis, a little more than 10 years after the country returned from military to civilian⁵ rule.