23rd January, 2024
By Ismail Abdulaziz
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu is meeting with the United States, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken who is on tour of African nations at the Aso Rock presidential villa, Abuja.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar received Blinken at the forecourt of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Blinken is to hold bilateral talks with the Nigerian delegation headed by President Tinubu.
Nigeria is the third country he is visiting on his Africa tour aimed at building better bilateral relations and partnership with the African Continent.
On arrival in Abuja, he was received by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume and Tuggar.
Blinken begins his fourth African trip this week, with visits to Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Angola.
Key priorities of the visit include bolstering security partnerships, enhancing health, and economic development in the region.
Tuggar had on Tuesday welcomed received the high ranking diplomat at the Presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume also accompanied the minister to receive the U.S. Secretary of State.
Tuggar is scheduled to hold talks with Blinken with a focus on deepening democracy in the West African subregion, strengthening of trade relations and security cooperation.
The minister has also planned to use the opportunity to urge the U.S. and the wider international community to give serious consideration to multilateral reforms, particularly that of democratizing the United Nations Security Council.
Tuggar at the just concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) said there was need to democratise the United Nations (UN) security council because it is “clumsy and not working”.
He said the values of democracy such as the rule of law should be replicated in the world’s highest decision organs.
“What we have to do is collectively practice what we preach.
“The values that we uphold democracy, rule of law need to be practiced, and we need to see them being practiced in the very decision-making bodies or entities for the planet.
“So, to begin with, the UN Security Council needs to be democratized. Clearly, it is not fit for purpose.
“We should do away with the veto powers on the UN Security Council; clearly, it’s clumsy and not working.
“Again, when you look at the global security architecture, it is impacted by such undemocratic entities that influence decisions.”
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Details later
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IS/YEE
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