Nigeria outlines nine focal areas to guide four-year foreign policy

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama yesterday disclosed that Nigeria has identified nine priority areas that would guide its foreign policy actions in the next four years.He made this known in Abuja while briefing members of the diplomatic corps on the priorities of the Nigerian government.

The priority areas are, building a striving sustainable economy, enlarging agricultural output, food security and export, attaining energy sustenance and power, as well as expanding transport and other infrastructural products.

Others are, expanding business growth entrepreneurship and industrialisation, expanding access to quality education, affordable healthcare and national productivity, enhancing social inclusion, reducing poverty, fighting corruption and improving governance and security for all.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in the first term of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, government’s prioritised fighting corruption, tackling insecurity, and jobs creation.He said that Nigeria’s foreign policy would henceforth be realistic in terms of reflecting the domestic reality of putting Nigeria First, adding, “We promote good governance, democracy, and protection of human rights within the African Union (AU).

“We are not in any kind of conflict with any country in the whole world and we have excellent relations with every member state of AU and UN. We believe that peaceful coexistence and security are pre-conditions for economic development and prosperity.“We believe that UN and multilateralism are forces for good. We strongly support the UN, although we call for its reform especially to increase the number of its permanent members in its security council to include at least three African countries with veto powers.”Onyeama said that more funds should be made available for United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations, stressing that the UN was doing a great job in many countries of the world.

He urged such countries to continue to abide by UN resolutions, not choosing which ones to respect and which not to respect, condemned the use of force for the settlement of disputes and expressed support for institutions such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court for International (ICCI) conflict resolution.He noted that international trade and economic diplomacy were the main focus of “our foreign policy, stressing, “We have to expand our trade, we have to innovate, we have to industrialise in order to lift our peoples out of poverty.

“We are striving to increase bilateral trade with all your countries very often within the framework of a bilateral commission.”The minister disclosed that the ministry was building an online business machine portal to promote and facilitate cross-border trade, insisting that global climate action has posed a lot of threat to lives.