Rotimi Ajayi
29 August 2000
Abuja — President Olusegun Obasanjo taking stock of President Bill Clinton's two-day visit to Nigeria, said yesterday that it had raised the country's profile and expressed optimism that the benefits would begin to manifest soon.
"There is a lot of goodwill that comes from a visit like this," he told an airport news conference shortly after Clinton left for peace talks on Burundi in the Northern Tanzanian town of Arusha. "Economically, socially and politically we stand to gain a lot," he said, adding that such visits carried substance as well as symbolism.
"Now that this visit has come and gone, we should build on the gains," he said. "One of the gains is that we have all it takes, we just have to put all that we have together to move forward."
Obasanjo predicted that Nigeria would now get a better international hearing on issues of concern to it.
Continuing, he said: "Nigeria is better exposed as a result of this visit. The reaction is generally positive. We have been exposed to international fora, which have several economic and political gains.
"We signed certain agreements which we will jointly implement. I believe that this visit is one event that will lead towards the strengthening of our democratic process.
"We can now say that we have a friend that we can call upon and say well this is our interest, how do we work together.
"This is a country (Nigeria) that is crying for investment so if the President of the United States of America comes here, it does not matter whether he has one week left in office and he says I have been to Nigeria and what I see there impressed me, well he has given the right signal."
Going into the specifics of the gains of Clintonıs visit he said the inclusion of the US NEXIM Bank President on Mr. Clintonıs entourage had increased the amount of facility being advanced to Nigeria from one million to three million dollars which could even be increased.
He also explained that following the meeting, a special committee had been constituted by the Federal Government to examine ways by which Nigeria would benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act passed by the U.S. government.
"One lesson we can all draw from this is simple; we have all it takes. If we are united to work together, we can lift this country up. I believe that now with his visit we should build on the gains," he said.
President Obasanjo spoke on while he was absent at Saturdayıs joint session of the National Assembly addressed by Mr. Clinton, and said his (Obasanjoıs) absence was in line with diplomatic convention globally.
"I have visited other countries and their presidents do not follow me to their parliament to address the legislatures. My absence is normal," he said
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