…Says he would take no cue from any foreign country on the matter
- Pix above: PBAT(r), Ambassador Molly Phee(l) and other dignitaries during the visit
SHARETHIS
In the handling of the ongoing political crisis in Niger Republic, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared he would be guided by Nigeria’s national interest more than any other thing.
Tinubu who spoke yesterday in Abuja while receiving the US Presidential Envoy and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Molly Phee, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said he would take no cue from any foreign country on the matter.
According to the President, the current impasse in the neighbouring country would not in any way deter him from concluding his economic reform programme successfully for the benefit of Nigerians.
Quoting him further, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said: “We are deep in our attempts to peacefully settle the issue in Niger by leveraging our diplomatic tools.
“I continue to hold ECOWAS back, despite its readiness for all options, in order to exhaust all other remedial mechanisms.
“War is not ideal for my economic reforms, nor for the region, but the defence of democracy is sacrosanct. The ECOWAS consensus is that we will not allow anyone to insincerely buy time,”
He asked Washington to ensure its policy is intentionally collaborative with independent African democracies at a time when they are under assault by anti-democratic forces within and outside of the continent.
The President noted that American-backed development finance and multilateral institutions, which were designed to support war-torn Europe after World War II, require swift and comprehensive reform to meet the developmental requirements of younger democracies in Africa, which operate in authoritarian-crowded environments, such that the legitimate yearnings of Africans would no longer be manipulated to serve the narrow aims of self-seeking demagogues through unconstitutional takeovers of power.
“Yes, the private sector will lead the way within an enabling environment we create for them, but the US Government must be innovative in its thinking and systematically create incentives for US industrial investment in Nigeria. Under my leadership, Nigeria stands ready to address their specific regulatory, tax and environmental concerns. I am determined to create prosperity for all Nigerian families,” the President declared.
The U.S. Special Presidential Envoy who is on a visit to Nigeria,Chad and Ghana partly because of the Niger crisis, expressed the high regard the US administration has for the leadership of the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Bola Tinubu, and extended an exclusive invitation from US President, Joe Biden, to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City to advance discussions further in late September. /SHARETHIS
- Tags: PBAT, Ambassador Molly Phee, President Joe Biden, USA, ECOWAS, Ajuri Ngelale
