Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Akinyemi Appeals against De-marketing Nigeria 

Funmi Ogundare

A professor of political science and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bolaji Akinyemi, yesterday, called on Nigerians to stop de-marketing the country irrespective of what the government does.  

According to him, if Nigerians do not have faith in the country or government, there utterances could backfire.

Akinyemi, who was a Guest on ‘The Morning Show’ on ARISE News Channel, spoke on  President Bola Tinubu’s performance at the G20 summit in India and its implication for Nigeria.

He explained that Nigeria was not counted as a member of the G20 because of bad leadership over the years.

“Now that we know the cost of bad leadership, when we get a decent leadership that can promote Nigeria and its economy, we would give it all it takes,” he added.

He regretted that Nigerians were the ones who steal crude oil and encouraged Boko Haram and other vices that destabilise the country, adding that Tinubu and Nigerians were paying the price for the bad leadership of the past.  

The former envoy stated that Tinubu assumed office at a time when he could maximise the goodwill of the international community, adding, “the new president of the G20 is Brazil and Brazil is a friend of Nigeria.

“We have very good relationship with Brazil. That good relationship should be cultivated. The president of the G20 actually has a lot of influence on its members in terms of what he would like to do or not to do.”

He stressed the need for Tinubu to set up a task force whose objectives should be that by the next summit, Nigeria would actually be sponsored for permanent membership of the G20. 

“He should talk to Turkey and continue to talk to the United States, cultivate China, Mexico and Britain. These are countries that we don’t have hostile relationship with. So this is the time to start and not a month before the next summit,” he added.

Akinyemi, also called on the president to focus on internal development, saying resources within the economy must be made to grow.

“I think President Tinubu has his job well cut out for him, domestically and internationally. It can be done. We can become a permanent member of the G20 by the next summit if our diplomacy us right,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the responsibility to ensure that all the agreements made should not be allowed to gather dust in files in the ministries, but in conjunction with other ministries, they should be actually activated and made to grow.

“Visas and permits must be made available easily especially to government, sponsored business men who come in,” Akinyemi said.

On how Nigeria could leverage opportunities pending when it becomes a member of the G20, he recalled that in 1960, Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt took the decision that they would not contest for positions within the OAU when it was formed at that time, so that other African countries would not feel that it was going to control the institution.