The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama;

  • FG commiserates with Ghana over death of 50 in road mishap

    The Federal Government has commiserated with the Government and People of Ghana over the loss of more than 50 lives resulting from a head-on collision involving two public transport buses.
    The accident occurred in the early hours of Friday.
    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, said this in a statement by the ministry’s Spokesperson, Mr George Edokpa on Friday in Abuja.

    Read also: 60 dead as two buses collide in Ghana

    According to him, the accident, which led to the injury of several others, occurred on the Kintampo Techiman Road, Bono East Region, Ghana.
    The minister commended the emergency services for their efforts in rescuing passengers trapped in the vehicles.
    He offered Nigeria’s fervent prayers for the quick recovery of those injured, condoled those that lost loved ones and convened Nigeria’s solidarity in their time of grief (NAN).

  • FG condemns terrorist attack on places of worship in New Zealand

    The Federal Government has condemned the terrorist attack on two places of worship in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand.

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, said this in a statement by the Ministry’s Spokesperson, Mr George Edokpa, on Friday in Abuja.

    Onyeama condemned the attacks which took place during Jumaat Prayers on Friday, March 15, killing 49 Muslim worshipers and injured many others.

    The minister who regretted the barbaric and vicious acts unleashed against innocent worshipers expressed Nigeria’s sympathies to New Zealand.

    “Nigeria stands in solidarity with New Zealand in their time of grief and fully supports the prosecution of the perpetrators of this heinous crime to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.
    He condoled with the Government and the people of New Zealand and prayed for God to grant the families of the victims the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss and wished the injured speedy recovery.
    NAN
  • Nigeria, Brazil discuss agreements on prisoner exchange, agric others

    Nigeria, Brazil discuss agreements on prisoner exchange, agric others

    ….Blamed recession for the fall in volume of trade

    Nigeria and Brazil are to open talks on prison exchange between both countries, among other agreements to be looked into, it was learnt Thursday.

    This is as both countries lamented the effect of economic recession on the volume of trade, which has drastically dropped from about $14 billion dollar a year to $2 billion.

    At a joint press briefing Thursday, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama and Mr. Aloysio Nunes Ferreira Foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria and Brazil respectively said the robust trade relation has been negatively impacted upon by the economic recession.

    Fereira who said that the trade volume between the two countries was two billion dollars in 2016 said that some years back it was about 12billion dollars.

    He said that the volume of trade crash due to economic crisis resulting from fall in the price of crude oil among other factors.

    “Volume of trade is two billion dollars but some years back it was about 12 billion dollars and has now decrease because of economic crisis.

    “This is what we are trying to revive so that Nigeria and Brazil trade relations can start to grow again,” he said.

    He said that partnership between the two countries was a unique one which was not just only on economic

    “Our partnership is strategic as it is not only on trade it is historical and cultural.

    “We have cooperation in investment; we just had conference of Nigerian-Brazilian investors in Lagos which aimed at boosting the prospect possibilities of partnership and investment in the country.

    “Some of them have already started yielding very good result,” he said.

    Earlier, Onyeama had said that there were plans to improve the balance of trade between two countries.

    The Minister said that the two countries would work together to strengthen their bilateral relations.

    He said that Nigeria was also looking at partnering with Brazil in the area of food production.

    “As you know Brazil is one of the largest food producers in the world. We have different areas through which Nigeria and Brazil can really cooperate in the agricultural sector.

    He said that Nigeria could learn a lot in the area of research and production of food which could be done through a number of programmes being run by Brazil.

    “They also have a number of interesting programmes in assisting interesting countries in food production and making food available.

    “So we are looking to benefiting from that especially in the area of life stock and other food produce.

    “We did discuss the possibilities of how to take part in the very effective food programme,” he said.

  • Papacy pledges support for Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade, education

    Papacy pledges support for Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade, education

    The Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, Embassy of Holy See Vatican, Archbishop Antonio Fillpazzi, has pledged Vatican’s support for the anti-corruption crusade and development of education sector in Nigeria.

    ‘Apostolic Nuncio’ is the term used for the Pope’s direct representatives to countries.

    Fillpazzi said this on Thursday in Abuja when he paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama.

    He said that Pope Francis was interested in assisting the country to address its social economic problem and the challenge of irregular migrants to Europe.

    “In the past and in the present, the Catholic has been part of development in education and social economic development and we wish to continue.

    “There is no intention to withdraw in this commitment because it is part of our faith and our religion.

    “As it is indicated by the president and the diplomatic community, I think that the Catholic Church can do a lot, especially in addressing the problem which sometimes comes from lack of education and information.

    “The church will be preaching the gospel and also do orientation to the society, to be an example and solution to the problem of corruption.

    “Pope Francis is interested in what corruption is and how to address the challenge,” he said

    According to him, another area of interest for Pope Francis is addressing the problem of immigrants from Africa to Europe in a very daring situation which is the biggest problem of the UN.

    He pledged to contribute to the development and enhance the progress of Nigeria as well as making meaningful impact in the lives of Nigerians before the end of his official assignment.

    Earlier Onyeama had commended and solicited for the continue support of the Vatican for Nigeria.

    “We appreciate the good work that the Vatican is carrying out in various fields in Nigeria, especially in education and social economic and religious, so we look very much forward for you to continue.

    “Though, we should not rely on Vatican to solve our challenge but we certainly look forward to increasing cooperation from the Vatican,” he said.

    Onyeama said that though Nigeria had a lot of challenges in security, economy and good governance, but the present administration was doing what it could to address them.

    “We are faced with a number of challenges in the country, the first one is security, which we are facing in the northeast and south-south and one or two other areas in the country

    “It is a major challenge for us and has led to humanitarian catastrophic, with the displacement of over two million persons.

    “We have received a lot of support from the international community for those challenges, but the government has also invested enormous resources in addressing the challenges.

    “However, we are extremely grateful for the support we are receiving from the Vatican to address the huge humanitarian crisis,,” he said.

    He said that the government was pushing for diversification of economy by moving away from oil dominated economy to the agriculture and manufacturing sector.

    The minister said that the country had also developed a road map and the economic recovery plan, which according to him is very detailed.

    He said that government was also putting emphasis on infrastructural development to enhance the development of economy and job creation for the youth.

    “We are also putting a lot of emphasis on ease of doing business making Nigeria to be a point of attraction for Foreign Direct Investment to strengthen our manufacturing base,” he said.

  • Nigeria, Cameroon discuss Bakassi, Boko Haram

    Nigeria, Cameroon discuss Bakassi, Boko Haram

    …As Cameroonian officials denies Bakassi mascara report

     

    The issue of Bakassi and Boko Haram dominated discussions Thursday when Nigerian government and their Cameroonian authorities met.

    Cameroonian President Paul Biya dispatched a three man delegation to the country to discuss issues of mutual benefits to both countries.

    Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the delegation that was received by Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigeria Minister of Foreign Affairs in Abuja.

    At a joint briefing at the end of their closed door meeting which lasted about 45 minutes, the visiting Minister denied the recent report of massacre of Nigerians by Cameroonian gendarmes.

    He said there was no iota of truth in the report; saying that Cameroon is a law abiding country and no such thing would ever happen.

    He said: “I was sent here by President Paul Biya to come and meet with the foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria to discuss a number of subjects that are mutually beneficiary to both countries.”

    On the reported killing of over 97 Nigerians, the minister said, “We also came to inform the government of Nigeria that a month ago, we had reports in the media concerning massacre of people in the Bakassi area. We sent our administrators and we even asked Nigerians Counsel in Bua to accompany them. They went there and they realize that not a single person was touched, nobody was injured, nobody was killed and it was a fabrication which appeared in the media, which we don’t know why and for what purpose. But we came to reassure the government and Nigerian people that Cameron is a law abiding country and no such thing would ever happen under our watch.”

    On Boko Haram, he said both countries have been working perfectly in trying to clip the terrorists group.

    According to him: “We came to discuss the situation that afflict North Western part of Cameroon and North-Eastern part of Nigeria concerning the fight against Boko Haram.  It really to say that the two countries have been working perfectly in trying to make sure that this evil group is completely alienated.”

    He also denied the report that his country maltreated Nigerian refugees; saying that they have protested to UN human right commission.

    “You know been a refugee is a very difficult condition. We in Cameroon are very sensitive to the issue. If you visit our own camp where we have about 60,000 refugees, you will see for yourself that they are being given the most humane treatment that we in Cameroon can give and can afford along with the UNHCR.

    “We were a bit surprise by that report and we take exception to it. We drew the attention of the UNHCR that in Cameroon we have been abiding by the law and have been doing everything we can because these refugees unfortunately, are the same people whether they are in Cameroon or in Nigeria. It is the same families that across both borders. It is even difficult to distinguish one from the other because they are the same people and we have been doing our best to give them the best possible treatment and we know that our brothers and sisters of Nigeria agreed within us that we have been doing our maximum in order to make sure that refugees who are already under a very difficult circumstances do not get any worst treatment from anybody.”

    Ngute also briefed Nigeria on other issues of interest, especially in the English speaking part of Cameroon, including resolving the strike action.

    “The first of the issues is to inform Nigerian authority that for some time we had so e issues with the English speaking region of Cameroon and to tell the minister and the good people of Nigeria that those problems have been resolved. The trade union that went on strike is back to work. The situation has been normalized and to thank our brothers and sisters of Nigeria for the understanding they have showed throughout this episode.  We have obviously numbers of radicals who don’t want to see things from the way most people see them,” he said.

    He also said he was very pleased with the responses he got from his Nigerian counterpart; adding that “It shows that the two countries are working in and the cooperation between us is very good.”

    Onyeama on his part denied any distrust between countries, saying “on the contrary both countries are extremely close, working together very closely and I think sending this delegation by the president himself, shows the importance he attaches to that relationship.

    “And we are also keen that this should trickle down to average Nigerian and Cameroonian. And I think by and large it does. But we also have to be careful of social media where you can have a very small minority of people generating a narrative that is not in any way reflective of the reality.”

    He was also quick to recall the recent cooperation between both countries in the fight to reclaim territories under Boko Haram in the North East.

    “You will recall that Cameroon is fighting shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers against Boko Haram. And in fact their intervention in that fight was very important and decisive,” he said.

  • FG begins prisoners transfer arrangement with China

    FG begins prisoners transfer arrangement with China

    Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama has revealed that Nigeria and China are working on prisoner exchange agreement.

    If this agreement scales through, the over 600 Nigerians serving various jail terms in China would be brought back home to continue their jail terms.

    Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama made the disclosure Thursday while briefing the journalists on the activities of the government in the last two years.

    Onyeama said “Nigerians in prison in China is what we are dealing with right now.  We are working on prisoner exchange system. It is a system we have to plan to have an agreement with China. The prisoners I think who are facing capital punishment on death row. We will reach out to the government commit the death sentences and those that are there we are making an effort to get them back home to serve their sentences.

    “Prison exchange is a special agreement with China but we are working to have one in place. We have taken that on board and we are trying to see what we can do to have such a transfer arrangement and to get our prisoners back,” he said.

    ” There is also  a mechanism for prisoner transfer for those that would serve their prison terms in Nigeria because some of them want to serve there prison term in Nigeria but yesterday the minister of interior presented during executive council a memo on reforming  the whole prison system in Nigeria and he feel somehow  on Nigeria prison.

    He also narrated that a Nigerian who have served in Chinese prison wrote a book on his experiences offered to train Nigerians in prison.

    “We got a letter of a Nigerian in Chinese prison who admitted that he was carrying drugs and he confessed and said he has served about 10 or 12years in Chinese prison. He has written about 4 or 5 books in prison and he is very much interested in using his experience to train and help others.”

     

     

  • Nigeria to close five foreign missions

    Nigeria to close five foreign missions

    The Federal Government has approved the closure of five foreign missions and embassies, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama said.

    Onyeama told newsmen in Abuja on Thursday.

    The minister, who did not mention the embassies or missions, said the process for closure was underway and was also subject to the approval of the president.

    “We do not want to indicate the embassies that will be closed yet because we are in the process of submitting the proposals, the cost analysis and also the political analysis we did to the president.

    “When he sees that, he may or may not want to close some, so we have not yet reached the stage of closing some,” he said.

    The minister also reiterated that the closing missions abroad were “extremely expensive”.

    “The expense, costs of closing embassies is so high and prohibitive but in the long run it will more economical.”

    The minister, on April 10, told NAN the closure of Nigerian missions abroad is inevitable.

    He admitted that it is ex­pensive to close a country’s embassy but quickly added that in the long run the
    policy will be beneficial to Nigerians.

    Onyeama stressed that the reduction of Nigeria’s foreign missions remains on the agenda of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

    Buhari had said at the inception of his administration that the Federal Government will reduce the number of missions to save cost.

    Nigeria currently has 119 foreign missions.

    Onyeama said: “The government is following up on that and we have sort of pre­pared the roadmap; we have started the implementation of that and made also recom­mendations in that context.

    “Paradoxically, closing missions is extremely expensive. At first sight it seems ob­vious that you close it you are saving cost but you will actually find that the cost of closing is almost prohibitive.

    “But in the long run it will be cheaper, but in the imme­diate and short term it is ex­pensive but we have started the process,” he said.

  • ‘FG did not pledge $1bn for Lake Chad at Oslo conference’

    ‘FG did not pledge $1bn for Lake Chad at Oslo conference’

    The Federal Government says it did not pledge one billion dollars for recharging of Lake Chad or humanitarian assistance to the region contrary to claims by the UN Security Council (UNSC).

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama said this on Tuesday in Abuja at a news conference on the visit of UNSC delegation to Nigeria.

    UNSC had on Monday called on Nigeria to scale up disbursement of one billion dollars pledged at a conference.

    The conference was on Humanitarian Assistance for victims of Boko Haram insurgency and rebuilding of the North East as well as to recharge Lake Chad which held in Oslo in February.

    UNSC delegation to Nigeria had at a news conference in Abuja advised Nigeria to take the lead in disbursing its own pledge at the conference on the humanitarian assistance for Lake Chad region.

    The minister, however, said that there was no pledge made by the Federal Government in that regard.

    •Onyeama
    •Onyeama

    “There is no question of one billion dollars pledged that Nigeria has made in that respect. One billion dollars pledged for the Lake Chad is not correct.

    “The sequence of the event is that there was a study to be done whether it was possible to recharge Lake Chad from Central Africa.

    “Some years ago, the government put in five million dollars for the study to be done and it has been done,” he said.

    Onyeama said that the study put the cost of recharging Lake Chad at 15 billion dollars.

    “Now, since this government came, we have got some other people looked at the study and there seems to be a lot of gaps in the study.

    “We are now looking at having a comprehensive feasibility study carried out and that is going to cost about 15 million dollars to do the study,’’ he said.

    According to him, the Minister of Water Resources and others are scheduled to meet on the kind of international donour conference later in the year for financial support for the project.

    “Because 15 billion dollars is a huge sum of money. It is clearly something we cannot afford.’’

    Onyeama said that government may also be considering Public rivate Partnership arrangement in terms of mobilising resources for the project.

    “We are moving in that direction, but there is no question of one billion naira pledge that Nigeria has made in that respect,’’ he said.

  • Nigeria, China agree to uphold policy

    Nigeria, China agree to uphold policy

    Nigeria and China have signed an agreement upholding one China policy.

    Recently, Taiwan officials claimed that it has opened a consulate office in Nigeria, a move which infuriated China.

    Wednesday’s signing by Nigeria was seen as the country’s solidarity with China, as the country has recently become one of Nigeria’s most dependable partners.

    The agreement was signed yesterday by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries in a ceremony which took place in Abuja.

    Mr Geoffrey Onyeama signed on behalf of Nigeria while his Chinese counterpart, Mr Wang Yi signed for his government.

    Both countries reaffirm their respect for each other’s sovereignty.

    Nigeria said one China policy is at the core of its strategic partnership with China. Adding that the People Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China territory.

    Nigeria government noted that it does not have any official engagement with Taiwan and also support the Chinese in the efforts towards realising national unification.China welcome Nigeria’s position

    China welcome Nigeria’s position and recent measures taking recently by the Nigerian government and also reaffirm it’s commitment to actively develop China/Nigeria strategic partnership across board.

    The duo also discussed other Bilateral issues ranging from infrastructure to transport.

    [news_list display=”tag” tag=”China” count=”6″ show_more=”on”]

  • FG supports diaspora voting ahead of 2019

    The Federal Government has said it would support “any’’ mechanism to ensure the inclusion of Nigerians abroad in future elections.

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama said this at a seminar on the validation of proposed “National Policy on Diaspora Matters’’ in Abuja on Thursday.

    Onyeama was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Amb. Sola Enikanolaiye.

    The minister said there was the need to promote the capacity of Nigerians abroad to achieve the “immense potential of the diaspora’’.

    He added that enhanced inclusion of Nigerians abroad in the voting process would support their contributions to national development.

    “This is for the socio-political and economic development of the nation.

    “In addition, the empowerment of Nigerians in the Diaspora as change agents for national development should be speedily scaled up.

    “On our part, we deeply support any mechanism for the inclusion of Nigerian Diaspora to participate in future elections,’’ he said.

    He urged that the challenges impeding the effectiveness of Nigerians abroad should be considered.

    “Many of them (Diaspora) are deeply concerned about the situation in the country and have critical skills and potential that could be harnessed to solving Nigeria’s sociology-economic challenges.

    “What has been lacking is the mechanism of effective engagement and interface with the government, with a view to ensuring that our country reaps fully the benefits of this engagement.

    “The ministry, therefore, sharpening its in-house resources to effectively harness the potential of Nigerians wherever they are based.’’

    The Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs Sen. Monsurat Sunmonu said that the committee was in touch with the Independent National Electoral Committee on Diaspora voting.

    Sunmonu added that efforts were being made by the committee to promote opportunities for Nigerians abroad to participate in future elections.

    She reiterated that Nigerians had “huge potential if properly harnessed would contribute to the development of the country’’.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa also emphasised the need to strengthen the diaspora policy.

    Dabiri-Erewa said that the development of a viable policy would address the concerns of Nigerians abroad.

    “We cannot ignore our diaspora; when Ireland went into recession they reached out to their diaspora community and one thousand of them saved the country from recession.

    “Now that Nigeria is going through challenges, we cannot have this enormous human resource and not engage with them.

    “We are working on the diaspora policy today; with the document, we have identified a few challenges impeding the effective contributions of Nigerians in the diaspora.

    “We do not have an accurate database of Nigerians in the diaspora; there is the lack of an enabling environment, bilateral agreements on avoidance of double taxation, and integrated framework for Nigerians in the diaspora.

    “Let us have a policy that we will be proud of.’’

    She said that a technical committee would be set up to work on the recommendations agreed on and come up with an action plan for implementation.

    Dabiri-Erewa also emphasised that the passing into law of the Diaspora Commission Bill would facilitate the realisation of a commission that would address diaspora matters.

    “The eighth assembly has taken it up, the house has passed it, we are waiting on the Senate to pass it and it has assured that it will pass.

    “It is going to be a one-stop agency to deal with diaspora matters, domiciled in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,’’ she said.