Minister justifies Buhari’s 51 foreign trips, forecloses closure of missions

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has defended the many foreign trips undertaken by President Muhammadu Buhari since assuming office on May 29, 2015.

Giving his scorecard, yesterday, in Abuja, Onyeama stated that the number of trips, which was put at 51, could not be considered too many in view of the benefits accruing from them.

Describing the President as the best foreign affairs minister Nigeria ever had, he insisted that he would have travelled more if he had accepted every invitation.

He said: “Fifty-one foreign trips sound too much but I would beg to differ that it is not, because you cannot imagine what is achieved with these personal engagements between Mr. President and governments of other countries.
“We had a reduction in daily capacity of oil production from two million barrels a day to 1.5 million and below one million barrels a day at times.
“There are other challenges such as issues of insecurity in the North and South. It is a miracle that Nigeria is still one of the top countries in economic trajectory in terms of economic improvement and indices.
“These are not done by chance. It is a lot of hard work that Mr. President has been able to do with his engagements with different countries and maintain the confidence of a lot of countries.

The minister, who took time to explain the milestone achieved by his ministry, noted that Nigeria remains one of the countries without enemies, and one that has enjoyed the assistance of international community, especially in the fight against insecurity.

On calls to reduce Nigerian missions, he stated that besides being capital-intensive, the exercise was capable of diminishing the nation’s status as ‘Giant of Africa.’

According to him, Nigeria’s presence should be felt all over the world.

Speaking on his achievements, Onyeama noted that bilateral engagements in his tenure extended to partners across the Atlantic, particularly the United States, where the ministry negotiated improved relations between the two countries to pave way for the sale and delivery of (12) A-29 Super Tucano military aircraft and weapons to Nigeria to fight insurgency.
“At the multilateral level, particularly the United Nations, the ministry backed the listing in 2020 of Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), the splinter group of Boko Haram.
“This represented global resolve in the fight against terrorism. Furthermore, at the continental level, the ministry has continually ensured since 2015, the yearly renewal of the MNJTF by the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC). These efforts have undoubtedly complemented other national efforts in degrading terrorist groups,” he stated.

He added: “We facilitated a partnership with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to repatriate stranded Nigerians through their Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) programme in 2018.
“We equally worked with the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to secure amnesty for 98 Nigerians that were in Ethiopian prisons; the ministry also evacuated over a hundred citizens stranded in Russia after the 2018 World Cup; facilitated the evacuation of a total number of 1,531 Nigerians from Ukraine to Nigeria.”
He, however, informed that his biggest regret was intimidation of Nigerians abroad, stressing that exploitation of over 400 young Nigerians in Libya caused him tear.

Meanwhile, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, also used the occasion to clarify his Wednesday’s statement that President Buhari was committed to free, fair and credible elections and consequently, doing everything to ensure an even-playing ground for all.

He stated categorically that the President is in full support of All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

His words: This comment has been misinterpreted in some circles, especially with regards to Mr. President’s support for the presidential candidate of our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“Well, I want to say unequivocally that Mr. President is in total support of our party’s flag-bearer, and that is attested to by his continuing campaign with the candidate across the country.
“It is preposterous to even suggest that Mr. President, who is the leader of our party, is equivocating on his support for our presidential candidate. I hope this clears any ambiguity that may have arisen from my statement yesterday (Wednesday).”