By Danlami Nmodu
The Society for International Relations Awareness (SIRA) has outlined key domestic and foreign policy issues that the incoming government of General Muhammadu Buhari should treat with priority .
A statement signed by Professor Nuhu Yaqub, chairman, board of the executive board of SIRA in Abuja said “The issues of insecurity, unemployment occasioned by dwindling economic growth and development, energy and, above all, corruption are the ones that shall drive the course of the country in the foreseeable future. SIRA therefore urges the incoming government to pursue them most vigorously as soon as it is inaugurated, come May 29th.
“The Society is also of the view that Nigeria’s foreign policy issues should not be neglected or sidelined because of the daunting domestic issues that largely dominated the electioneering campaigns. As a matter of fact, the main parties and even the subsidiary ones that took part in the recent electoral politics did not feature them remarkably and this should be rectified since the party that has won at the centre owes it to the collective destiny of the Nigerian people to pursue dominant issues in the foreign policy arena.
“SIRA therefore calls on the incoming administration to ensure that as soon as it takes over, it addresses all the issues that affect the Nigerian economy, especially in all its global ramifications, such as mounting debt profiles with their terms of repayment as well as the basis of incurring them in the first instance, declining foreign reserves and other commitments of significant impact; the vigorous promotion of the welfare of Nigerians wherever they may find themselves such that they shall be protected from the recurring treatment being meted out to compatriots who more often than not are unjustly manhandled; and the steadfast and patriotic pursuit of securing two “Seats” at the United Nations Security Council for the African region. This advocacy, SIRA is convinced that it has to be on the heels of the vigorous process of the democratization of the Security Council in the first instanced
The society also frowned at what it described as the “clumsy,untidy” handling of the Palestine issue by the Goodluck Jonathan administration. According to SIRA , “the new regime should be advised to take a look at the clumsy, untidy and totally unacceptable manner with which the issue of the membership of the state of Palestine of the United Nations was handled by the outgoing regime, last December. It must be put in context that since independence Nigeria has not voted against the Palestinian Question, whether the regime in power at any point in time in this country was headed by a Christian or a Muslim leader.
“Again, under the outgoing government, the resort to religion and other divisive planks in domestic policy was extended to the foreign policy platform. This should not have been the case as past Nigerian governments have always looked at foreign policy issues purely on their merit and to the extent that they would conduce to the long-term policy of the country. I
“In the specific case of the self-determination of oppressed peoples such as in the struggles against apartheid South Africa, East Timor, South Sudan, Western Sahara, etc., Nigeria has never been found to err at all, by not standing for their rights. To the extent that this has been the case and for as long as Nigeria still remains a non-permanent member of the Security Council, she should use her good offices to revive the debate.
“It is the considered opinion of SIRA that the admission of the state of Palestine as a member of the United Nations is one of the surest means of bringing to reality the Palestinian state in both theory and practice. What is more, just as the Obama Administration as well as public opinion in the United States and globally is gradually tilting towards the two-state solution as the most realistic route to enhancing peace in the Middle East, SIRA believes that it is high time the Middle East peace deal was done with.
SIRA also said the “Buhari Administration should demonstrate a renewed allegiance to the Africa-centred nature of the Nigerian foreign policy. In this vein, the regime should come up with policy perspectives that are aimed at shoring up the African Union (AU), the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) and the other regional bodies in Africa as well as to design a strategic initiative to under the AU to tackle the problems of insecurity that many African countries are coping with at the moment. In a nutshell, the new regime should not allow the daunting internal socio-political issues in the country in the present conjuncture to limit its horizon on the other equally international relations issues that inextricably are likely to link us to the other states in Africa.
Earlier, the group joined “countless number of Nigerians and organizations, especially those in the Civil Society sector where it also berths, to congratulate the President-Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on his victory in the March 28th polls”. The society said it was convinced that the General deserved to win the elections given the thrust of the important national issues contained in the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
