Adefuye receives letter of credence

The following statement was released by the Presidency
Ambassador to US gets Letter of Credence
Mar 17, 2010, 08:04

The Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, on Tuesday March 16 in
State House, Abuja, gave Letter of Credence to Nigeria’s new Ambassador to
the United States of America, Prof. Ade Adefuye.
Prof. Adefuye had variously served Nigeria as Ambassador to Jamaica, Deputy
High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, and Director, Africa Section in the
Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
The Professor of History has been Adviser on Democracy and Good Governance to
President of the ECOWAS Commission since 2008, before his latest portfolio.

Ade Adefuye is Nigeria's new ambassador to US

It took a long time in coming, but yesterday, the Nigerian Senate did the right thing by confirming Ade Adefuye, a professor of history and former envoy to Kingston and London as Nigeria's substantive ambassador to Washington. He replaces Brigadier Oluwole Rotimi (Rtd) who was recalled in February 2009.

The Senate could have done this since the first week of November 2009 when his name was forwarded to them, but though the wheels moved slowly, Nigeria is now able to send a well respected and competent man to handle one of her most important foreign postings especially in light of present realities. The major one of whch is the souring of relations between Washington and Abuja over the failed Chrsitmas day bombing and the subsequent inclusion of Nigeria on a list of countries linked to terrorism.

The experienced New York based Guardian columnist, Sonala Olumhense describes him as "an excellent man" and I agree. His track record suggests he will do a good job.

[photo above shows Prof Adefuye (2nd from right) meeting HM the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 16 Nov 2006] [credit: Linford A]

Citizen Diplomacy defined

Foreign ministers are usually known to promote a policy thrust for their tenure. So for example we have Hillary Clinton channelling what she's termed "smart diplomacy".


In Nigeria, foreign ministers past and present have not been lacking in this regard either. In the 1980s, Bolaji Akinyemi promoted Nigeria in the context of a "concert of medium powers", in the early 1990s, Ike Nwachukwu championed "economic diplomacy" and in the mid 90s during Tom Ikimi's infamous era, his thrust was referred to in the Nigerian media as "area boy diplomacy".


When the incumbent foreign minister, Ojo Maduekwe came into office, he came out with the concept of "citizen diplomacy" as the fulcrum of his policy thrust. But many have wondered exactly what the term meant. In remarks at the Brookings Institution on September 30, he gave this definition:


"Through citizen diplomacy, we want to reestablish the self-confidence of the Nigerian as a law-abiding, honest citizen that can play globally; that can be a responsible global citizen; and that each Nigerian citizen is indeed an ambassador of Nigeria, and that this is part of the strength of Nigeria, not just it's culture, but also the decency of its citizens and what they are contributing to wherever they are in the diaspora."

Will all his actions now match these fine words?

Yar'Adua's Holiday

Let me be clear. I speak of no new intention on the part of the Nigerian president to head off on yet another visit/vacation to a certain Middle Eastern country.

I'm rather more concerned with what appears to be an even greater vacation from the international diplomatic arena. In the wake of his absence from the UN General Assembly for the 2nd year in a row, diplomats and analysts questioned why Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua decided not to show up. The official explanation for his last minute cancellation of his trip was his need to visit Saudi Arabia as a guest of King Abdullah at the opening of a university named after the king.

But on Sunday, October 11, we got an even better explanation from Wole Oke (Chair, Defense Committee, House of Reps). He said Yar'Adua's absence was "a deliberate diplomatic protest against the United States of America, whose body language towards Nigeria in recent times had been seen by the Federal Government as unfair."
The president's spokespersons have so far not denied Oke's statement thus further lending credence to it.

This at a time when Yar'Adua is the ECOWAS Chairman and Nigeria (which states her foreign policy as being Africa-focused) is vying for a Security Council rotating seat.
Is it any wonder that with crisis situations in both Niger and Guinea, there is no clear direction from the supposed giant in the region on how to resolve either?

This must rank as one of the most bizzare reasons ever given on Yar'Adua's behalf. And the Vanguard in it's editorial yesterday rightly concludes that "Nigerians are appalled at the inaction that has descended on the Presidency, it is indefensible, it is more insulting to offer bland explanations for it."

I agree.

The Obamas meet The Maduekwes

With his boss skipping the UN General Assembly for another year, the Nigerian foreign minister will get his chance to follow up last year's speech with another one today.

But before the address, he attended a dinner hosted by President & Mrs Obama for heads of most visiting delegations last week at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

I came across this compressed clip of the Obamas' shots with the foreign dignitaries by Eric Spiegelman.

It makes for very fascinating viewing (in all of it's 20 second glory), not least for the permanence of the fixed smile on Barack Obama's face.

09-09-09

Not much to say about this uniquely dated day other than to point you in the direction of an Editorial in the Vanguard Newspaper. It concludes by asking:
"Do we expect something special today 09-09-09? We’ll know by the end of the day.
In the next 100 years, we will have another 09-09-09, only a few alive today will live to see that day."

Any role for Africa in Middle East Peace Process?

On August 31, Libyan ruler and African Union (AU) Chairman, Muammar Gadaffi, told an AU summit that Israel was "behind all of Africa's conflicts". He went on to say,"as African brothers, we must find solutions to stop the superpowers who are pillaging our continent." Representing Nigeria at that gathering under a huge tent at Tripoli airport was Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan.

Today in Abuja, Dr Jonathan will receive Isreal's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Nigeria is the fourth leg of Lieberman's 5 nation shuttle which began on September 2 during which he is travelling with a 20 businessman delegation, which includes 9 defence contractors according to Bloomberg. It is also the first visit to sub-Saharan Africa by an Isreali Foreign Minister in over 2 decades.

At the start of the trip in Addis Ababa, the AU Headquarters, Lieberman said that "it is important Ethiopia and other African nations use their influence on Arab states and international organization to promote peace in the region, rather than take a biased position against Israel." He also made a call for greater involvement in the region from African governments, saying "we look to Africa to help promote moderation and reconciliation in the Middle East."

But was he just trying to counter Gadaffi's attack or does he really think Africa has a strong enough clout to play the role he envisages.

Back in November 1971, the OAU (the AU's predecessor), felt it could suceed where the big powers weren't making progress and dispatched four "messengers of peace" to the region to bring peace via dialogue. One of the four was the Nigerian leader at the time, General Yakubu Gowon. The other leaders were Leopold Senghor of Senegal, Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroun and Joseph Mobutu of Zaire.

Senghor had this to say on their effort: "Most of the countries of black Africa maintain friendly relations with Israel and the Arab states, when you have friends who are fighting each other, it is incumbent upon you to build bridges between them and to pacify them. I believe that the Africans have a better chance to succeed in this than the Americans or the Russians."

Do the current crop of AU leaders have any such bold diplomatic intiatives up their sleeves or is Mr Lieberman's call to them just wishful thinking?

(Photo: Presidents (L-R) Mobutu Senghor, Ahidjo and Gowon meeting with the Speaker of the Knesset, Mr. Reuven Barkat in Jerusalem on November 5, 1971 - Credit: Israel Embassy, Abuja)