Politics
Atiku Opens Up On Real Reason He Visited America
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has penned a long article on why he decided to visit the United States of America.
Atiku stated that he travelled to the US, because he has a mission to “create the right economic atmosphere for American investments to return to Nigeria”.
Full text below:
It has become pertinent for me to speak about my ongoing visit to the United States of America, where I have met and I am still meeting with the U.S. administration officials and business leaders.
I travelled to the United States of America because I have a mission, which is to create the right economic atmosphere for American investments to return to Nigeria at a rate and quantum that we had before the current Nigerian administration’s policies almost halted the flow of foreign direct investments to Nigeria.
I am in America because Atiku means jobs.
My reason for running for the office of president of Nigeria and even for going into public service in the first place, is because I believe that Nigeria has what it takes to be the beacon of hope for the black race and a leading nation of reckoning in the international community.
This has not materialised over the course of the last four years because, as Chinua Achebe prophetically said in his 1983 book, “the trouble with Nigeria is the failure of leadership.”
The current Nigerian administration has allowed our relationship with our long-standing friends and partners to deteriorate and this has had unfortunate consequences for our economy.
Foreign relations that had been meticulously and delicately built for decades were allowed to deteriorate because members of the incumbent administration mistook their personal interests as the interests of Nigeria and allowed short term goals to dominate their foreign policies.
New friendships should not be made at the cost of old friendships. It is not an either-or situation. Right from Independence, Nigeria has nurtured a policy of non-alignment. We borrowed from the Lincoln policy of malice toward none and charity for all. Sadly, that policy has suffered major setbacks in the last four years.
As a leader in business, I am cognisant of the fact that both Western and Oriental nations will be making the transition from fossil fuels to electric powered vehicles and other green energies over the course of the next two decades. This means that Nigeria’s oil has a limited shelf life.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed and we must, as a nation, begin to make the transition from an oil economy to a modern one based on manufacturing and value-added agricultural chain.
…my vision is for trade to go both ways. Nigeria has a lot to offer America via her creative industry (Nollywood is the world’s third largest movie industry) and rich mining sectors (Nigeria’s Kaduna State is rich in gold ore). I am also eager to find a market in the U.S. for some of the half a million shoes manufactured in Nigeria’s cities of Kano and Aba everyday.
The message I took to the United States business community is not a new message. In my opinion editorial in the British media (“Beyond Brexit – Nigeria wants a new trade deal with Britain”), I submitted that Brexit is an opportunity for Nigeria and the United Kingdom to have a Big Ambitious Free Trade Agreement.
It is only common sense.
In 2014, the African continent as a whole earned $2.4 billion from coffee grown in Africa and shipped mainly to Europe. That sounds impressive. However, one nation alone, Germany, made $3.8 billion from re-exporting Africa’s coffee in 2014.
As a businessman, I see this and I cannot allow it to continue. It is unconscionable, but situations like these will not stop unless Nigeria and Africa have leadership that thinks business, instead of aid, and capital instead of loans.
Nigeria has, perhaps, the highest populations of youth as a segment of the total population, in the world. Already, we have the unfortunate distinction of being the world headquarters of extreme poverty. We cannot afford business as usual. My single-minded focus is to change this dubious record by transforming Nigeria from a consumer nation to a prosumer nation (a nation that consumes what it produces).
For this to happen, we need U.S. firms who have divested from Nigeria, to return. We need Procter and Gamble to reopen its $300 million Nigerian plant, which it shut down last year. We need General Electric to reverse its $2.7 billion pull out of Nigeria.
And my vision is for trade to go both ways. Nigeria has a lot to offer America via her creative industry (Nollywood is the world’s third largest movie industry) and rich mining sectors (Nigeria’s Kaduna State is rich in gold ore). I am also eager to find a market in the U.S. for some of the half a million shoes manufactured in Nigeria’s cities of Kano and Aba everyday.
Someone somewhere said Nigeria’s youth are lazy. I am one of the single largest employers of Nigeria’s youth and I know that assertion is false. My travels in Europe and America is to sell the Nigeria that I know to the world that does not yet know her. A Nigeria with not just a hardworking youthful population, but a nation with some of the smartest working people on earth. A nation that is open for business and a Nigeria that is much more than oil.
And I am certain that if I am successful in selling this Nigeria to the world, the world will come to Nigeria for business. That is why I am in America. Because I believe in JOBS – Jobs, Opportunity, Being United and Security and it is time Nigeria and all Nigerians finally have the opportunity to realise their true potentials.
Politics
I cannot support Peter Obi again, says Doyin Okupe
Doyin Okupe, former director-general of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign in 2023, says he “cannot support” Peter Obi again.
Okupe spoke on Monday during an interview with Seun Okinbaloye on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
He was reacting to a viral clip of Obi commenting on how the country’s economic situation offers little succour to people in the south-west despite President Bola Tinubu being from the zone.
“Let us talk about what is happening today. Rice is about N100,000. We are not even sure where we are going to be. ‘It’s our turn’, ‘he is a Yoruba man’ — ask the people in Ogun, here is there any place you people buy bread cheaper?” Obi said in the viral clip.
The video generated mixed reactions on social media, with some supporting Obi’s comments while others criticised him.
Adding his voice to the criticism, Okupe described the former LP presidential candidate’s remark as an “insult” to people in the south-west.
He said Obi’s statement publicly brought down south-west people even though “eminent Yoruba people” supported him during his presidential bid in 2023.
“When Obi made that statement, it insulted us. I am a Yoruba man; I left everything and followed Obi.
“For the first time, Obasanjo left his circle of influence and deviated to support Obi,” Okupe said.
“I do not regret supporting Peter Obi. But now I cannot do it again. The reason why I did it was because we agreed that a southern president must emerge.
“I was approached that if a southern president must emerge, which zone must it come to? I said the south-east.
Politics
APC wins ALL 18 seats in Cross River LG elections
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won all 18 chairmanship positions in the Cross River LG elections held on Saturday.
Ekong Boco, chairman of the Cross River State Electoral Commission (CRSEC) and the election’s returning officer, announced the results on Sunday at the commission’s headquarters in Calabar.
The APC won in Abi, Odukpani, Bakassi, Akpabuyo, Ogoja, Akamkpa, Bekwarra, Etung, Biase, Boki, Calabar Municipality, Obubra, Yakurr, Yala, Obanliku, Obudu, Ikom, and Calabar south LGAs.
The chairman of CRSEC issued certificates of return to the elected chairpersons.
Bassey Otu, the governor of Cross River, commended the winners, describing the elections as peaceful.
The governor expressed optimism that the new LG leaders would align with the state’s “people-first” agenda.
“We have a well-defined vision for the state, and we believe the new leadership at the local government level would understand that they must align with the state government’s agenda and exhibit unwavering dedication to realising good governance,” he said.
Nine opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), participated in the elections but did not field candidates across all 196 local council wards in the state’s 18 LGAs.
Politics
‘There is no longer a place for her’ — Onanuga says Betta Edu won’t be returning to Tinubu’s cabinet
Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, says Betta Edu has now left the federal cabinet for good.
Edu was minister of humanitarian affairs.
Onanuga spoke on Sunday during an interview with Channels Television.
On January 8, Tinubu suspended Edu after a memo surfaced wherein she asked Oluwatoyin Madein, accountant-general of the federation, to transfer N585 million to a private account.
The president also asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the financial transactions of the humanitarian ministry.
After she was suspended, the former minister was grilled at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja.
Subsequently, the president suspended all programmes administered by the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA) for six weeks, as part of the probe into alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and its activities.
In April, the EFCC said it recovered N30 billion following investigation into the ministry’s activities, adding that 50 bank accounts were under probe.
There were appeals from certain quarters for the president to reconsider and recall Edu.
Although Edu vanished from public glare, she sent a condolence message to victims of the Jos building collapse in July using the ministry’s letterhead.
Last Wednesday, the president named Nentawe Yilwatda as Edu’s replacement during a cabinet reshuffle.
‘SHE’S GONE’
Onanuga was asked if Edu remains a minister since she was only suspended by the president.
The presidential aide said Edu is no longer a minister and that her portfolio has been handed to someone else.
“Betta Edu is gone. She was suspended in January, and this is October. She is gone. Her position has been taken over by somebody else… that is the man from Plateau state (Yilwatda),” he said.
“As far as this government is concerned, there is no longer a place for her in that cabinet.”
Asked about the outcome of the investigation on Edu, Onanuga said the EFCC is yet to make the details public.
“The EFCC has not shared whatever they have, but if you go by what the president has done, it shows that maybe the EFCC has submitted something that actually justifies that suspension,” he added.
“If we follow what the president has done, it means EFCC has revealed something that has formed the basis of the president’s action.”
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