News

Tuggar Says Nigeria Expanding Its Foreign Policy In Line With Constitution

Published

9 months ago

March 29, 2024

Gloria Ikibah

…as diplomatic correspondents conferred on him Grand Patron

By Gloria Ikibah

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has said that Nigeria is vigorously expanding its foreign policy in line with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Minister who stated this when he received members of the Diplomatic Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria, (DICAN), on Thursday in Abuja, who conferred on him the ‘Grand Patron’ for his innovative role in enhancing Nigeria’s foreign policy through President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

He commended the members of the association and said the step take by DICAN was a challenge to do more.

He said: “We will expand, we’ll continue to engage other countries but you also have to bear in mind that whatever you do in foreign policy, your starting point is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and in that constitution, the foreign policy objectives in Nigeria, and those constants, you cannot change that. And one of the foreign policy objectives, one talks about our region, West Africa. Another, Africa itself, so, those are immovable.

“And you can see how it also makes sense for Nigeria to pay close attention to what happens in its region because when outsiders also engage with us, they not only engage with us as Nigeria, but they’re also engaging with us as the leader in our neighborhood, in our region, on the continent.

“And this is going to become even more so because we’re growing in terms of population, we are the most populous and we will continue to be so we’ll be the most third most populous country on the planet by 2050 and of course, economy is also the largest economy on the continent. Therefore, when people look at us, they will approach us through that perspective,” he said.

According to Tuggar, Nigeria has been consistent in terms even in a bipolar world, “we were non aligned, we will neither with the US nor the Soviet bloc at the time. We dealt with both sides.

We are equal opportunity aligners, we are aligned with the interests of Nigeria and we will continue to do so.

“This is why she continued to emphasize today on strategic autonomy and that’s the new name for non alignment since we no longer have those two blocks, you no longer have a bipolar world with the structure that you have now, it is a multipolar world. We align with whatever polarity benefits Nigeria, Nigeria’s interests and the tradition of condoling with countries when they have such unfortunate incident occur, continues. It’s not new.

“And Russia is not an enemy.

If you go back to the Soviet era and the Cold War era? Soviet Union had very close relations with Nigeria, Ajaokuta Steel Complex was built by Soviet Union at the time, which consisted of both Russia and Ukraine and we will continue to maintain very good relations with them. Our position on violation of territorial integrity of countries remains the same, it remains consistent, we condemned the violation of Ukraine’s territorial space when it occurred but it does not mean that because of that, we will stop dealing with Russia, we will continue to deal with Ukraine, same way we’re dealing with other countries,” Amb. Tuggar concluded.

Earlier, the Chairman of DICAN, Comrade, Idehai Frederick assured that the Association will continue to report Nigeria from a patriotic point of view as well as project the nation’s image positively before the international community.

“We as DICAN are committed to supporting you to succeed in your responsibility as the number one diplomat in the country. We also assure you of DICAN’s partnership to project the nation’s image positively before the international community as well as drive the country’s foreign policy in line with the renewed hope agenda of the President.

“Your Excellency, we also wish to reassurance you of the association’s commitment to partner with you and the Ministry to make Nigeria a better place,” Idehai said.

News

Tinubu To Hold Maiden Presidential Media Chat Tonight

Published

1 hour ago

December 23, 2024

Naijablitznews

President Bola Tinubu will hold first presidential chat since assuming office on Monday night.

Accoding to a statement released by presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, the chat will be broadcast at 9 p.m. on the stations of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).

All television and radio stations are requested to hook up to the broadcast.

“The first Presidential Media Chat with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be broadcast at 9 p.m. on Monday, December 23, on the Nigerian Television Authority and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.

“All television and radio stations are requested to hook up to the broadcast,” the statement.

News

‘Putin waiting to meet me as soon as possible’ to end Ukraine war – Trump

Published

2 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Naijablitznews

The US President-elect took to the stage AmFest in Phoenix to talk about his contact with the Russian leader.

He told the crowd: “President Putin has said he want to meet with me as soon as possible.”

Trump went on to brand the war “horrible” and stated it needed to end. It is not known whether or not this meeting will take place in person. His comments at the event in the US come as Putin met with another world leader.

Putin held talks in the Kremlin today (December 22) with Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to Moscow by an EU leader since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Fico arrived in Russia on a “working visit” and met with Putin one-on-one. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s RIA agency that the talks would focus on “the international situation” and Russian natural gas deliveries.

Visits and phone calls from European leaders to Putin have been rare since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, although Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban visited Russia in July. Orban’s visit drew condemnation from Kyiv and European leaders.Fico’s views on Russia’s war on Ukraine differ sharply from most other European leaders. The Slovakian PM returned to power last year after his leftist party Smer (Direction) won parliamentary elections on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform. Since then, he has ended his country’s military aid for Ukraine, hit out at EU sanctions on Russia, and vowed to block Ukraine from joining NATO.

News

JUST IN: Speed Darlington Granted Bail, Says Lawyer

Published

2 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Naijablitznews

Stanley Alieke, the counsel for popular controversial rapper, Darlington Achakpo, aka Speed Darlington, said the singer has been granted bail after nearly a month in police custody.

Alieke disclosed this on his Instagram handle on Monday.

“Apki has been granted bail by the court,” he wrote without including much information.

The rapper was arrested on November 27 while performing at a show in Owerri, Imo State.

His arrest was connected to an alleged abuse of Afrofusion star, Damini Ogulu popularly known as Burna Boy.

Darlington’s counsel, Deji Adeyanju also confirmed that Burna Boy was responsible for his arrest.

Darlington had taunted Burna Boy over his affiliation with the embattled United States rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs who is facing multiple charges for sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

This prompted his first arrest. On his arrival, Speed Darlington swore never to back down on calling out the Grammy award winner because of his association with the embattled Diddy.

Earlier, Darlington’s lawyer, Adeyanju said that the singer would be arraigned within 48 hours or be released on bail.

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“Our FREP application for Speed Darlington a.k.a has been granted by the court. He is to be arraigned within 48 hours or released. Issues around injustice may take time but justice will always prevail,” he wrote.