The Nation Newspaper

Category: Foreign

  • It’s time for Nigeria to join UN Security Council, says Foreign Affairs Minister

    It’s time for Nigeria to join UN Security Council, says Foreign Affairs Minister

    Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar has stated that it is time for Nigeria to be a member of the United Nations Security Council.

    Tuggar, who made a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily yesterday, insisted that the nation is due to sit on the international decision-making tables.

    “It’s time to reform; it’s time for Nigeria to be in there – the Security Council,” the minister said.

    “In terms of democracy, we are also looking to democratise the global system; we are agitating for that. Nigeria needs to be on the big table where decisions are taken about the global economy and the entire planet. That is why it’s important for us to be participating in the G20,” he said.

    The United Nations Security Council, a division of the UN, has the primary responsibility of preserving world peace and security.

    It is made up of 10 elected members and five permanent members: China, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and the Russian Federation.

    However, the minister demanded that the UN undergo reform, describing the permanent membership of the council as “an old thing.”

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    “Of course, we are calling for a reform of the United Nations because the Security Council has five permanent members. This is anachronistic – an old thing that came about at the end of the Second World War,” he said.

    When quizzed on the criteria the security council would use to decide if Nigeria should be admitted, the minister responded that Nigeria’s population size and role in the liberation of other African nations give it an advantage.

    “We are the largest country in Africa, and 50 per cent of Africans are Nigerians. We are projected to become the third-largest country in the world by the year 2050.

    “We are the largest economy; we’ve always been a leader. We stood up and championed the liberation of African countries from racist regimes,” he said.

    “It’s going to be India, China, then Nigeria.”

    Over the past few weeks, President Bola Tinubu has taken part in a number of significant international gatherings, including the G20 Summit in India and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

  • We need African solutions to global problems, says U.S. envoy

    We need African solutions to global problems, says U.S. envoy

    The Consul General of the U.S. Consulate in Lagos, Will Stevens, has said African solutions are needed to address global problems of which include climate change, food insecurity, poor leadership, among others.

    He made this known at the 2023 Mandela Washington Fellowship (MWF) Reunion Conference organised by the consulate for fellows who recently completed their programmes at various prestigious institutions in the U.S..

    Stevens charged the fellows to work together to solve global problems, noting that the MWF as well as other exchange programmes focused on building connections that would last.

    According to him, the mission’s hope is that fellows bring back research, business and media ties back into Nigeria so it leads to investment and partnership.

    “This is an incredible time to be part of the U.S. relationship with the continent and with Nigeria in particular because I think about the second half of the 21st century as the African century.

    “This relationship right now is so strong, but it’s built on relationships between people, partnerships between our companies, universities, and civil society actors.

    “But we need to start working together even more, because the problems that we face are global in nature,” he said.

    Stevens said that the fellows were the network and  the future, noting that he had incredible faith in them.

    “I have incredible faith in the dynamism that Nigeria produces in all sectors and I am yet to see the Nigerian faced with a problem that they don’t think they can overcome.’’

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    He noted that Nigeria had an average age of 19, and explained that youths were engaged by connecting and helping them to relate with their peers in the U.S. while identifying areas they could work together.

    Speaking with newsmen, Dr Rabi Sufi, one of the fellows noted that the programme was very valuable to her, considering the work she does in the health sector.

    Sufi, who was posted to Wayne State University in Michigan, said she gained both academic and leadership skills, and how to build advocacy.

    “I did a lot of community awareness programmes in the community and I was able to get more knowledge on how to deal with leaders in such communities while increasing the impact of my work,” she said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that MWF, the flagship programme of the U.S. Government’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) was established in 2014 to empower young African leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa between the ages of 25 and 35.

    Fifty seven young Nigerians participated in the 2023 programme for six weeks at some of America’s top educational institutions, focusing on tracks including business, civic engagement, or public management.

  • Niger begins three-day national mourning for killed soldiers

    Niger begins three-day national mourning for killed soldiers

    Niger began three days of national mourning yesterday after 29 soldiers were killed in a suspected jihadist attack, the deadliest since the military took power in July.

    The latest violence comes as the country’s coup leaders indicated they were considering neighbouring Algeria’s offer to mediate talks for a transition back to civilian rule.

    Niger is battling two jihadist insurgencies — a spillover in its southeast from a long-running conflict in neighbouring Nigeria, and an offensive in the west by militants crossing from Mali and Burkina Faso.

    When military leaders overthrew democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, they cited the deterioration of the security situation in the country as justification.

    Monday’s attack in western Niger involved “improvised explosive devices and kamikaze vehicles by more than a hundred terrorists”, the Ministry of Defence said in a televised statement.

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    It added that two soldiers were seriously wounded and “several dozen terrorists” were also killed.

    The attack took place northwest of Tabatol near the border with Mali, which is plagued by fighting with militants affiliated with the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda.

    Violence in the “three borders” area between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso has fuelled military takeovers in all three countries since 2021.

    Algeria, Niger’s influential neighbour, said on Monday that Niamey has accepted its offer to mediate talks on a transition to civilian rule.

  • India tells Canada to remove 41 diplomats

    India tells Canada to remove 41 diplomats

    India has told Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country, an official familiar with the matter said yesterday.

    The order has ramped up a confrontation between the two countries over Canadian accusations that India may have been involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in suburban Vancouver.

    The official, who confirmed an earlier report from the Financial Times, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

    India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to comment, but ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had previously called for a reduction in Canadian diplomats in India, saying they outnumbered India’s staffing in Canada.

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    Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last month that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh leader, who was killed by masked gunmen in June in Surrey, outside Vancouver. For years, India has said Nijjar, a Canadian citizen born in India, has links to terrorism, an allegation Nijjar denied.

    Arranging the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada, home to nearly 2 million people of Indian descent, would be unprecedented.

  • McCarthy ouster vote ahead as Speaker confronts GOP critics

    McCarthy ouster vote ahead as Speaker confronts GOP critics

    • ‘I won’t cut a deal with Democrats’

    Speaker Kevin McCarthy is confronting his hard-right critics head-on yesterday as he faces a historic challenge to oust him from leadership.

    He insisted he will not cut a deal with Democrats to remain in power and setting the stage for an extraordinary and unpredictable showdown on the House floor. The Republican McCarthy’s fate is deeply uncertain as he faces what’s known as a “motion to vacate” from Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a strident critic allied with Donald Trump.

    It would take the support of only a handful of Republicans from his slim majority to remove McCarthy as speaker if Democrats vote in favour alongside the conservative rebels.

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    Behind closed doors early yesterday, McCarthy told fellow Republicans: Let’s get on with it. “If I counted how many times someone wanted to knock me out, I would have been gone a long time ago,” McCarthy said at the Capitol after a private morning meeting.

    It’s a stunning moment for the embattled McCarthy that serves as the most severe challenge yet, a potential punishment sparked by his weekend decision to work with Democrats to keep the federal government open rather than risk a shutdown.

  • Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to illegal gun possession charges

    Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to illegal gun possession charges

    Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to an illegal gun possession charge, marking the latest chapter in his troubled life just as his father U.S. President Joe Biden accelerates his campaign for reelection next year.

     Hunter, 53, arrived in federal court in his family hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, without speaking to waiting reporters.

    He entered a not-guilty plea to three felony charges stemming from his purchase of a .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver in 2018 when, by his own admission, he was heavily addicted to drugs and barely in control of his life.

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    Hunter Biden is charged with two counts of making false statements for claiming on forms required for the gun purchase that he was not using drugs illegally at the time.

    He faces a third charge, based on the same statements, that he illegally possessed the gun –– which he had for only 11 days in October 2018 –– before he got rid of it.

    Hunter Biden’s multiple legal troubles and controversies –– which extend to facing ferocious accusations from Republican politicians that he engaged in corrupt business practices in China and Ukraine –– are a constant drag on his father’s political standing as he seeks a second term in 2024.

  • U.S. Speaker McCarthy removed

    U.S. Speaker McCarthy removed

    A United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted from his leadership position in a historic vote yesterday after a far-right revolt over his reliance on Democrats to pass funding to avert a government shutdown.

    The final vote was 216-210, with eight Republicans joining all the Democrats to vote to remove McCarthy. It’s the first time a House speaker has been removed in a no-confidence vote.

    “The office of Speaker of the House of the United House of Representatives is hereby declared vacant,” said Rep. Steve Womack, who was presiding over the chamber.

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    Republican Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, a top ally of McCarthy’s and a member of the Financial Services Committee, was then appointed speaker pro tempore. The rules of the 118th Congress state that “in the case of a vacancy in the office of speaker, the next member” named on a list submitted by McCarthy to the clerk of the House in January will become speaker pro tempore until a speaker is elected.

    “The one thing that the White House, House Democrats and many of us on the conservative side of the Republican caucus would argue is the thing we have in common — Kevin McCarthy said something to all of us at one point or another that he didn’t really mean and never intended to live up to,” Gaetz said on the House floor yesterday ahead of the vote.

    Along with Gaetz, seven Republican members voted to oust McCarthy Reps. Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Bob Good, Nancy Mace and Matt Rosendale.

  • Coup: West African region urged to solve challenges facing democracy

    Coup: West African region urged to solve challenges facing democracy

    Piqued by the increase in countries falling under military rules in West African sub-region, Director-General National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Prof. Abubakar Suleiman, has urged the region to look into the challenges facing democracy.

    This was the conversation at the thre-day high-level parliamentary seminar on, “The challenges of unconstitutional regime change and presidential term limits in West Africa – The role of ECOWAS Parliament”, organised by the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States in Winneba, Ghana.

    Suleiman said failure to do an appraisal is an invitation for military takeover.

    “Yes, there are challenges facing political parties that have threatened political parties and democracy in Africa. If all these challenges are not been looked into, then while we believe we are having our ways as ruling party, we should know that we are not having our way because anytime the military structure responds, the electorates have to jubilate.

      “That tells us something fundamental is wrong with the politicians, as the ruling party we have what it takes to do anything we like by the time the junta strikes, then we are going to be the victim of the scourge of the military.

    “We need to look at the challenges. There is suspicion by the people of the political parties based on the behaviours of politicians, abuse of political process, how election is been rigged, how politicians hijack the whole process, lack of internal democracy, non-performance of West African economies under democratic parties and increasing insecurity.”

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    All these are threats to party formations in Africa and all these are threats to democracy in Africa.

    “The only panacea toward getting our democracy right is for our politicians to look into all these and see how we can really reform our political parties in a way that they are able to perform the role they are supposed to perform in line with the founders of political parties in a democracy,” Prof. Suleiman added.

    Mr. Emmanuel Abdulai, a human rights lawyer from Sierra Leone, believes that it is necessary for collaborative efforts among various stakeholders to promote democratic consolidation.

    According to Abdulai, West Africa has made progress with democracy but is faced with difficult challenges like corruption and electoral fraud.

    He said political parties as formal organisations seeking political powers through elections and governance participation have various roles including representation of mobilisation, honesty, crafting, providing voter choices as to what policies are on the table, governance participation and legislative criticism.

  • Conflicts, insecurity hinder Africa’s growth, says Kenya lawyer

    Conflicts, insecurity hinder Africa’s growth, says Kenya lawyer

    Kenyan lawyer and activist, Prof. Patrice Lumumba, has said the present atmosphere of conflict and insecurity in many African countries are factors that hinder the continent’s growth.

    Lumumba also said African leaders must work together, irrespective of the system of government, to end conflicts and insecurity in the continent, to attract investment and economic growth.

    He said this in his speech at an event “Africa, rising continent: Nigeria’s strategic role” televised on Channels Television yesterday.

    Lumumba said: “The Africa Free Trade Area says we trade among ourselves at 20 percent. Europe about 70 percent, North America 65 percent, Asia 60 percent and Latin America 55 percent.

    “What must we do? We must stop certain things that stand in our way. Conflict.

    “We sat down in Abuja and said that we were going to silence the guns in 2013, but we did not. And again, we sat down in 2020 and said that we were going to silence them. And now the guns are alive and well.

    “And who are those supplying us with the weapons? It is not us. It is others. Should we blame them? Yes, we should. Should we blame ourselves? Yes, we should. So, Africa has always been a battleground.

    “Look at Africa as I speak to you. Look at Sudan. For the last two months, there has been no economic activity in Sudan. They are destroying what they once built; generating as of now 2.5 million refugees. Even if you want to trade, who do you trade with?”

    Read Also:  How to prevent Military rule in Africa, by Ganduje

    The Kenya activist also described as devastating the effect of conflict and insecurity on children.

    “In Sudan, children who ought to be vaccinated are not getting vaccinated. Here in your neighborhood, in Cameroon children have not gone to school in the last many years, because of conflict,” Lumumba said.

    “In Northern Mali, the country is divided into two. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, they have 120 armed groups. Yet, it is the busiest airspace in the continent of Africa. Minerals are being taken away to Europe and America. The same in Central Africa Republic and Libya,”

    He decried the silence of Africa leaders amidst the conflicts and insecurity.

    “I do not hear the voices of African leaders. No. Their silence is eloquent. And when they speak they speak mutedly in in sanitised language and people are dying.

    “Several months ago, I wrote to the chair of the African Union and all Africa Heads of States and said to convey a meeting with only one agenda item. What can we do to save Africa from this slide? Only four replied.”

    Lumumba said Africa would rise, “but it is not by prayers and fasting alone, but through unity of the leaders and practical approach to solving our problems”. 

    He said: “There is a saying in Sheshewa in Malawi that more precious than our children are our children’s children. So, when we are doing these things, we must remind ourselves that we are doing them for this generation and generations yet to be born.

      “The question we should ask ourselves is that beyond the rhetoric what do we do? And what is beautiful in the continent of Africa now is that there is consciousness.”

  • Nigerians in diaspora advise Tinubu on Renewed Hope Agenda

    Nigerians in diaspora advise Tinubu on Renewed Hope Agenda

    Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Americas (NIDOA), South Savannah chapter, Georgia, has called on President Bola Tinubu to implement his “Renewed Hope Agenda” by harnessing all opportunities to lift Nigerians out of poverty.

    NIDOA South Savannah Vice President Dr. Tomi Ademokun made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York on the sidelines of the 63rd Independence Day Anniversary.

    “This is a call to action to continue to celebrate our great country, raise up your flag today, Independence Day.

    “Also, a call to action to President Tinubu’s administration for his agenda on hope. We really need to HOPE – H-Harness, all O-Opportunities, P-Poverty, E- Eradication in Nigeria and help lift people out of poverty through sustainable programmes, jobs and restoring the economy and help to the most vulnerable poor. ‘’

    Ademokun said every Nigerian should do his part to support the efforts of the Federal Government.

    She said that NIDO South Savanna had been contributing its quota by supporting the less privileged in Nigeria and supporting student communities in the U.S.

    “Recently, we partnered with Linkway diplomats and Calvary school, and we gave out seven scholarships totaling 700,000 (100,000 each) to seven students.

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    “We have partnered with Brazilian Development Initiative RADI Foundation in southern Kaduna to help internally displaced persons (IDPs), orphans and farmers to make sure that they get agriculture products.

    “Also, to get fertilisers to restart their farming business and also for the orphans to get them back in school.  We’ve provided scholarships funds for orphans.’’

    “So please, we all need to do our part to help our people in our community, both here in the diaspora and back at home.

    “We have the power to do so, South Savannah, Georgia stands with you here in American diaspora, we pray for you and pray for a greater Nigeria,” Dr. Ademokun

    She, however, congratulated Nigeria and the Diaspora on the 63rd anniversary of the Independence Day, praying God to bless Nigerians and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “We have built a strong partnership based on our shared values and common pursuit of a more peaceful, prosperous and secure world.

    “NIDO Americas South Savannah is committed to strengthening our partnership and continuing to work together to promote inclusive economic growth, safeguard human rights and combat insecurity.

    “We commend Nigeria for its regional and global leadership. We send our best wishes to the people of Nigeria. We look forward to deepening our close partnership and advancing our shared goals in the year to come,” she said.