| Anyaoku raps Obasanjo
By LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
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Anyaoku
PHOTO: Sun News Publishing
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A three-day foreign policy retreat opened in the Federal
Capital Territory, Abuja Tuesday with the former Secretary-General
of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anayoku, advising government
to let charity begin at home in its campaign for peace abroad.
He said at the retreat, which is organised by the Presidential
Advisory Councils on International Relations (PAC) of which
he is the chairman, that except the home is secure, the effort
being made to bring about peace abroad would amount to nothing.
"In recognition of the fact that peace is a basic necessity
for development, our foreign policy of pursuing peace abroad
must be anchored on peace at home. No country can do well
abroad if the home front is weak," he stated.
Anyaoku then called for the strengthening of Nigeria’s
corporate existence through the convocation of a national
conference of all ethnic nationalities in the country, saying
it was the only way of attaining national peace and stability
in the country.
If the Federal Government could be willing to hold conversation
with the representatives of a restive group in the country,
it should also be willing and able to take the initiative
to organise a national "dialogue," he argued.
Anyaoku contended that the aim of the conference would be
to discuss and produce a national consensus on the fundamentals
of the constitution as well as ways of strengthening the country’s
corporate existence.
To ensure peace in the country, he pointed out the need to
configure the constitution to bring about a more meaningful
federation that would be more conducive to attaining national
peace and stability and national development.
"We must free the resources spent on governance and deploy
them on development, which will palpably benefit out toiling
and unemployed masses. In this way, we would give our people
a greater stake in the democratic dispensation," he stated.
Speaking on the country’s foreign policy, Anyaoku listed
the challenges facing our foreign policy direction to include
the increasing economic importance of the Gulf of Guinea,
the quest for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security
Council the debt burden and funding for foreign missions.
In his address on the occasion, President Obasanjo called
for review of the country’s foreign policy to make it
more relevant in the world. He said with the successes recorded
in the government’s reform agenda, it was necessary
for all stakeholders to review where the country is coming
from, analyse the present and make projections for the future.
He directed the Presidential Advisory Council on International
Relations to review Nigeria’s foreign policy thrust
in a bid to evolve better ways of conducting the nation’s
foreign relations.
The president charged the council to discuss and analyse foreign
policy actions or structures of government, sub-structural
issues underlying foreign policy action, historical and other
consequences of these action.
The retreat is being attended by former ministers of foreign
affairs, former heads of the Nigerian Institute of International
Affairs (NIIA), foreign envoys in Nigeria and top government
functionaries, among others.
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