The chairpersons of the Senate and House of Representatives’ Committees on Foreign Affairs, Senator Abubakar Bello and Abdulmumini Jibrin, gave the commendation when they addressed State House correspondents after closed-door talks with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
On his part, Bello affirmed that Nigeria is set to witness changes in foreign policy as the NASS is effecting significant changes in line with global best practices.
Bello stated, “Essentially, we discussed our foreign policies and how to improve and have a robust, clear foreign policy for everyone’s understanding and the benefit of Nigerians and Nigeria as a country.
“We strongly believe that necessary steps must be taken to improve the image of Nigeria and Nigerians internationally. And I am glad Mr. President has taken bold steps towards ensuring that.
“So, going forward in the next coming months, hopefully, we’ll start seeing some changes with regards to our foreign policies that will be clear and well understood by all concerned to ensure that Nigeria and Nigerians are given the right place in the international scene.”
The immediate past governor of Niger State highlighted how the changes will affect Africa, saying, “Mr President is very much interested in changing the dynamics of our foreign policy which has been, for a while now, obsolete. There hasn’t been any major review of foreign policies.
“The time has come now to take the bold step towards working out some of our foreign policies to have them in line with best practices and to international standards.
“So, yes, I believe going forward, we’re going to be working very hard with the executive arm to look at all our previous agreements and treaties or what have you, to see those that need to be amended or that one needs to be implemented.”
Substantiating Bello’s stance, Jibrin said they advised the President on improving the policy.
“Building from where my colleague stopped, we commended the President for his very articulate and dynamic foreign policy captured in the four Ds – democracy, development, demography and, of course, diaspora.
“Everybody who is a follower of International Relations and foreign policy will agree that it’s a well-articulated foreign policy.
“And we assured him of all the necessary support from the National Assembly and gave some advice on one or two things, how things can be improved, which, of course, my colleague has already delved into,” said Jibrin.
On December 12, the Federal Government launched the 4D policy that provides dynamic and unique concepts anchored on democracy, developments, demography and diaspora.
On Kano politics, Jibrin said he used the opportunity with the President to discuss the political crisis in his state arising from the last governorship election.
The lawmaker, who expressed hope that the crisis will be amicably resolved before the final determination by the court, said, “There’s no way I will come here without also discussing politics.
“So, I also had my chat with him (President Tinubu), particularly on how to ensure that we continue to have peace and harmony in Kano and also proffer some recommendations in that regard.
“Hopefully, we believe that the burning crisis in Kano, as regards the governorship seat, will be resolved amicably without prejudice to the cases that are in court.”
He noted that the President is interested in a peaceful resolution of the crisis and the relevant stakeholders are eager to support a reconciliation.
