Nigeria’s foreign policy which placed Africa at the centre of focus is about to change as the National Assembly said plans were afoot to restructure it in line with the current reality and global best practices.
Abubakar Bello, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, stated this after meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja
Bello, who was accompanied by Abdulmumini Jibrin, the Chairman, House of Representatives, met with President Bola Tinubu on Friday to deliberate on the way forward toward a clearer foreign policy.
Bello, while fielding questions from State House Correspondents after meeting with the President affirmed that the nation would soon witness changes in the foreign policy as effort would be made to improve it.
He pointed out that the President had already taken steps to ensure that.
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Bello, who is the immediate past governor of Niger State, added that “Essentially, we discussed our foreign policies and how to improve and have a robust clear foreign policy for the understanding of everyone and for the benefit of Nigerians and Nigeria as a country.
“We strongly believe that necessary steps must be taken to improve the image of Nigeria and Nigerians in the international scene. And I am glad Mr. President has taken bold steps towards ensuring that.
“So, going forward in next coming months, hopefully, we’ll start seeing some changes with regards to our foreign policies that will be clear and well understood by all concerned to ensure that Nigeria and Nigerians are given the right place in international scene.
“So, essentially, without waste of time, that is the reason we saw Mr. President today, and I think we had a very good meeting. And we agreed to join hands between the executive arm and the legislative arm to work together towards achieving these goals.”
Speaking specifically on how the changes will affect Africa as the centerpiece, Bello added: “You know, like I said, Mr. President is very much interested in changing dynamics of our foreign policy which has been, if you may call it for, for a while now, obsolete. There hasn’t been any major review in foreign policies.
“The time has come now to take the bold step towards working out some of our foreign policies to have them in line with best practices and to international standards.
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“So, yes, I believe going forward, we’re going to be working very hard with the executive arm to look at all our previous agreements and treaties or what have you, to see those ones that need to be amended or those one that need to be implemented.
“So yes, there’s there’s a lot of work to be done. And by God’s ways, I think we’ll sail through”, he concluded.
