The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyema, the Minister of
State, Foreign Affairs, Hajia Khadija Abba Bukar Ibrahim and the Permanent
Secretary of the Foreign Affiars Ministry, Amb. Yusu Lolo have all urged
President Mohammadu Buhari to embark on more foreign trips.
They said Nigerians should “count ourselves lucky to have a Principal and
a global product that has brought Nigeria several goodwill.”
Addressing diplomatic correspondents recently in Abuja the three henchmen
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urged Nigerians to actually “plead
with President Buhari to travel more as this has opened several doors for
us.”
Explaining further Geoffrey Onyema, noted that although the Ministry is
blessed with the three leaders, “our role is to wet, prepare the grounds
for Mr President and follow up on initial discussions the President must
have had with his counterparts.
The Minister said that the President’s presence in most of the countries
visited yielded lots of instant dividends.”
Amb Onyema noted that “there can be no foreign policy without domestic
policy, the main thrust of the Buhari administration focuses on three
areas, Security, Economy and Corruption,(SEC).”
He stated that upon assuming Office, President Buhari visited “our
immediate neighbors; ,Benin,Chad and Niger, to seek collaboration in
tackling the insurgency which is a global issue and was ravaging the North
East part region of Nigeria.”
Similarly in the face of the falling price of Oil Price, the President
also emphasized the need to diversify into Agriculture, Solid Minerals
Mining and to woo direct Foreign Investors into the nation. Those
countries visited included Egypt, Equitorial Guinea, Kenya, South Africa
to mention a few and in all this countries agreements were reached and
MOUs signed.
Some of the reasons put forward to Nigerians on why President Buhari
travels includes;
1. President Buhari represents an unimpeachable integrity and he is
Nigeria’s strongest brand marketed the world over.
2. We need our neighbors to help us fight the insurgency that has ravaged
the North East of Nigeria.
3. Nigeria is in a hurry to play in the first 11 of the world super
economic powers.
4. Buhari has earned Nigeria numerous collaborations, thus he is being
begged to visit more nations to further boost our diplomatic ties.
5. Earned Nigeria co-operations, as countries that had shut their doors to
Nigeria have now thrown them open.
6. Buhari has brought Nigeria and Africa a lot of flexibility which has
made two Asian powers Japan and India to pledge huge sums of aid.
7. Need to change the narrative of our foreign policy.
8. There are no nations without without skeletons in their cupboard, thus
Nigerian journalists should put patriotism first and see the good side in
this administration and all it is bringing to the table for Nigerians.
9. Each of these visits have not been jamborees as critics believe but
very tiring meetings from morning to dusk most times skipping meals. “If
the health of the President permits him to travel then Nigerians should
actually plead with him to embark on more trips to bring us more good
rather than seat at home.”
The Minister of State, Hajia Khadija Bukar Ibrahim, noted that “no
true democrat or leader would seat at home while his house is on fire
neither would he sleep when his children are hungry, he would rush out
to seek help and that is what Buhari is doing.
In a related development the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs Amb Lolo hinted that Nigerians in the diaspora can now
heave a sigh of relief as there are strong indications that their quest to
participate in the country’s general elections may happen in 2019 “if the
clause in the 1999 Constitution is removed to enable Nigerians in diaspora
vote.”
What this means is that major stake holders; INEC, the Legislators and
Nigerians in diaspora who countribute $27billion annually to our economy
will work towards actualising this dream. Even the President is very
concerned.
Meanwhile the President is scheduled to visit Washington DC, to
participate in the 4th series of the meeting of nuclear powers. As the
trips unfolds the Honourable Minister Amb Onyema promised to keep
Nigerians informed.