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Nigeria: Envoys Ask Govt to Address Security Problem
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This Day (Lagos)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Chuks Okocha
Abuja
High Commissioners and Ambassadors in Nigeria have advised the Federal Government to address problems associated with youth restiveness in the Niger Delta, security and poor infrastructural facilities in the country.
They said if the problems were not tackled, foreign investment would continue to elude the country.
The envoys numbering over 37 spoke in Abuja yesterday in an interactive session with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The PDP in response to the youth restiveness in the Niger Delta urged the envoys to assist the country by informing their various governments to find ways of discouraging illegal importation of arms into Nigeria.
The party also called for the relaxation of stringent visa policies against Nigerians wishing to travel to their respective countries.
At the forum, the Greek Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Haris Dafaranas, called for an intervention of the party in the rampant cases of kidnapping, youth restiveness and other crisis in the Niger Delta.
Dafaranas said any investor wishing to come into the country would have to take a decisive look at the youth restiveness in the Niger Delta and other crises.
According to the Greek envoy, "the action of these youths in the Niger Delta and unemployment usually scare would-be investors away."
In his comment, the Sierra Leonean High Commissioner to Nigeria, Alhaji, Mohammed Bayoh, also lamented the effects of poor security in the country, stating that in most cases, the diplomats were victims of armed robbery.
"We are always attacked by armed robbers. There is no light (electricity) and water," Bayoh said.
The National Chairman of PDP, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, asked the National Organising Secretary of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, who hails from the Niger Delta to respond to what the envoys had said.
Secondus blamed the restiveness in the region on the infiltration of illegal arms from outside the country.
According to him, "the escalation of the Niger Delta crisis coupled with youth restiveness is because of the illegal arms assistance which they get from outside the country.
"Please inform your countries that these arms are getting to them illegally. Please stop assisting them with these arms and I can assure that the Federal Government of Nigeria is already tackling the issue very well.
"Please help to correct the impression that the government is doing nothing on the matter. Government is doing everything to control the crisis; but please help us to stop the importation of these illegal arms."
Secondus further described the Niger Delta youths who engage in kidnapping of foreign nationals and even Nigerians as criminals using the Niger Delta crisis as a decoy.
On the problems of armed robberies and lack of electricity in the country, the PDP governors assured the envoys that the matter would be looked into immediately. Ogbulafor, who also assured them of their safety, stated that he would inform the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory to beef up security around the embassies.
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On problems concerning lands in the FCT, which the envoys had complained about, Ogbulafor said that he would refer the complaints to the FCT minister for action.
"I will summon the FCT minister and I can assure you that within the next one week, this matter would be over," Ogbulafor said.
The PDP chairman also appealed to the envoys to relax the stringent visa stance against genuine Nigerian businessmen.
What a sad display of crocodile tears by the so called Envoys! I presume that the Europeans and Americans played the leading role in this assumptive move to advise the Federal Government of Nigeria on what to do about the restive regions of the Niger Delta. Have they forgotten their rush in the sixties and seventies to drill/lift the underground "liquid gold" from the Niger Delta at all costs...even when this entailed the utter destruction of the lives and livelihood of the residents inhabiting the lands where they drilled? They used their booty to build up beautiful cities in their... [Read Full Text]
This is an unprecedented action of foreign governments showing what they have witnessed as very deplorable situation in the country and the downright ineptness of the administration and shamefully ineffective governance. This administration's established approach of covering its total lack of understanding of basic governance by discrediting and cancelling projects by the former administration that would have been very helpful to the country seems to be backfiring as the foreign observers have shown now. The foreign diplomats are expressing their disgust at the suffering the citizens are being put to by the government. TRUTH IS PERENNIAL AND... [Read Full Text]
We haven't seen nothing yet. Who do these so-called nigerian leaders think they are kidding? When a major financial portal like businessjeeves.com complains about leading government officials being involved in scams, and claim to have prove too, that leads to an up hill battle from then on...
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