National Security & Intelligence
Acting President hails Presidential Council on Foreign Affairs
Feb 23, 2010, 16:39
| | Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has extolled the Presidential Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs saying he will continue to draw from their vast experience from time to time.
He said this when he received members of the Council led its Chairman and former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, in the State House, Abuja on Tuesday February 23.
Dr. Jonathan told members of the Council that he would be having regular consultations with them for advice on Nigeria’s foreign relations.
He also said the political developments in Niger are causing Nigeria some concern as any major crisis there could affect Nigeria due to its geographical proximity to Niger.
Earlier, Chief Anyaoku congratulated Dr. Jonathan saying his assumption of office as Acting President saying the development has helped brought stability in the country.
“I was on assignment in Switzerland and the United Kingdom three weeks ago and wherever I went people were asking me what was happening in my country. There was understandable anxiety among friends not to mention the discernable tension on their faces.”
“But your formal assumption of office as Acting President has had a tremendous effect in lowering the anxiety and the tension and introducing stability in the polity.”
“And I can say that some of our major foreign investors with whom I interacted in Switzerland, who were sitting back and skeptical of the situation are now assured. This is as a result of the new stability in the country.”
Chief Anyaoku said the Council was established in 2001 by the Obasanjo administration to bring the collective experience of Nigeria’s renowned former ambassadors to bear on governance by offering advice to the President on foreign issues.
He urged Nigeria to take steps on the situation in Niger, while sustaining interventions in other parts of the continent through the AU and ECOWAS.
He also enjoined Government to take proactive steps in pursuing its post-amnesty programmes in the Niger Delta, noting that “the world is watching out for the successful outcome of the amnesty.”
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