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Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has said the Federal Government will promote ethical foreign policy in its local and international engagements at all times
Onyeama made the government’s position known when he appeared on the Arise News programme ‘The Arise Interview’ to discuss the country’s foreign policy direction, particularly as it relates to the upholding of human rights.
“Yes, there is very much a place for ethical foreign policy and we try to uphold that.
“The foreign policy is driven by our principles. You can see this basically, actually in the speeches of Mr President at the UN General Assembly. If you read his speeches over the last three UN General Assemblies, you will get a sense of the ethical soul of this government,” Onyeama said.
The Minister added that even in the fight against insurgency in the Northeast, the Armed Forces have institutionalised the respect and promotion of human rights.
Onyeama said the respect for rights has been embedded within the country’s defence architecture by the establishment of a human rights desk.
“And their programmes, training and otherwise, for the military on human rights obligations. So we try to make that part of the culture of the military,” Onyeama added.
“Because there is always going to be human beings, there is going to be few individuals who don’t adhere to the rules and regulations and so forth. But the most important thing is that the institution itself must embrace an ethical vision or a moral vision. So this is what we have sought to imbibe and institutionalise in our military,” Onyeama stated.
On the recent visa ban on Nigeria by the United States, Onyeama said the move took Nigeria unawares as the United States never informed the country of the action.
While expressing confidence that the issue would be fixed in no distant time, Onyeama said all that the country was after was to ensure that the issue was purely technical in nature other than anything else.
He, however, said that regardless of the decision, Nigerian Immigration and security officials have been working with the United States on precisely the issues and concerns raised.
Onyeama disclosed that, in all fairness, the United States had made clear the areas of great concern which they claimed Nigeria’s efforts to address were not expeditious enough.
“So, for us, rather than crying over spilt milk, the decision had been obviously taken. We wanted to understand the reasoning behind it and to be sure that it was purely technical as opposed to any other reason,” Onyeama stated.
Onyeama also spoke on the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus epidemic in China and the quest by the government to have Nigerians in China, particularly those in the outbreak’s initial epicentre of Wuhan province, evacuated to the country.
The Minister said the Federal Government sought medical opinion and the advice was for the Nigerian nationals to self-isolate in China and for the government to make their stay as comfortable as possible.
Onyeama, who further said he had been in touch with the Nigerian Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, Baba Ahmad Jidda, said he had been receiving regular updates about the support being provided to Nigerians in the country.
“The most important thing is to keep them fed and clothed essentially. And this is what is being done. The mission intervened directly, the embassy, and we also from the headquarters, have been transferring funds to continue that support,” Onyeama disclosed.
