The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyema, the Minister of
\nState, Foreign Affairs, Hajia Khadija Abba Bukar Ibrahim and the Permanent
\nSecretary of the Foreign Affiars Ministry, Amb. Yusu Lolo have all urged
\nPresident Mohammadu Buhari to embark on more foreign trips.<\/p>\n
They said Nigerians should “count ourselves lucky to have a Principal and
\na global product that has brought Nigeria several goodwill.”<\/p>\n
Addressing diplomatic correspondents recently in Abuja the three henchmen
\nof the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urged Nigerians to actually “plead
\nwith President Buhari to travel more as this has opened several doors for
\nus.”<\/p>\n
Explaining further Geoffrey Onyema, noted that although the Ministry is
\nblessed with the three leaders, “our role is to wet, prepare the grounds
\nfor Mr President and follow up on initial discussions the President must
\nhave had with his counterparts.<\/p>\n
The Minister said that the President’s presence in most of the countries
\nvisited yielded lots of instant dividends.”<\/p>\n
Amb Onyema noted that “there can be no foreign policy without domestic
\npolicy, the main thrust of the Buhari administration focuses on three
\nareas, Security, Economy and\u00a0 Corruption,(SEC).”<\/p>\n
He stated that upon assuming Office, President Buhari visited “our
\nimmediate neighbors; ,Benin,Chad and Niger, to seek collaboration in
\ntackling the insurgency which is a global issue and was ravaging the North
\nEast part region of Nigeria.”<\/p>\n
Similarly in the face of the falling price of Oil Price, the President
\nalso emphasized the need to diversify into Agriculture, Solid Minerals
\nMining and to woo direct Foreign Investors into the nation.\u00a0 Those
\ncountries visited included Egypt, Equitorial Guinea, Kenya, South Africa
\nto mention a few and in all this countries agreements were reached and
\nMOUs signed.<\/p>\n
Some of the reasons put forward to Nigerians on why President Buhari
\ntravels includes;<\/p>\n
1. President Buhari represents an unimpeachable integrity and he is
\nNigeria’s strongest brand marketed the world over.
\n2. We need our neighbors to help us fight the insurgency that has ravaged
\nthe North East of Nigeria.
\n3. Nigeria is in a hurry to play in the first 11 of the world super
\neconomic powers.
\n4. Buhari has earned Nigeria numerous collaborations, thus he is being
\nbegged to visit more nations to further boost our diplomatic ties.
\n5. Earned Nigeria co-operations, as countries that had shut their doors to
\nNigeria\u00a0 \u00a0have now thrown them open.
\n6. Buhari has brought Nigeria and Africa a lot of flexibility which has
\nmade two Asian powers Japan and India to pledge huge sums of aid.
\n7. Need to change the narrative of our foreign policy.
\n8. There are no nations without without skeletons in their cupboard, thus
\nNigerian journalists should put patriotism first and see the good side in
\nthis administration and all it is bringing to the table for Nigerians.
\n9. Each of these visits have not been jamborees as critics believe but
\nvery tiring meetings from morning to dusk most times skipping meals. “If
\nthe health of the President permits him to travel then Nigerians should
\nactually plead with him to embark on more trips to bring us more good
\nrather than seat at home.”<\/p>\n
The Minister of State, Hajia Khadija Bukar Ibrahim, noted that “no
\ntrue democrat or leader would seat at home while his house is on fire
\nneither would he sleep when his children are hungry, he would rush out
\nto seek help and that is what Buhari is doing.<\/p>\n
In a related development\u00a0 the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
\nForeign Affairs Amb Lolo hinted that Nigerians in the diaspora can now
\nheave a sigh of relief as there are strong indications that their quest to
\nparticipate in the country’s general elections may happen in 2019 “if the
\nclause in the 1999 Constitution is removed to enable Nigerians in diaspora
\nvote.”<\/p>\n
What this means is that major stake holders; INEC, the Legislators and
\nNigerians in diaspora who countribute $27billion annually to our economy
\nwill work towards actualising this dream. Even the President is very
\nconcerned.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the President is scheduled to visit Washington DC, to
\nparticipate in the 4th series of the meeting of nuclear powers. As the
\ntrips unfolds the Honourable Minister Amb Onyema promised to keep
\nNigerians informed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n