The tempo of politics in Nigeria will shift to New York this week when President Goodluck Jonathan attends the 65th General Assembly of the United Nations.
This will be the first time that a Nigerian leader will be attending the august gathering of world leaders as the late President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua stayed away from the three previous meetings while he was in office.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who is expected to be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumugobia, the Minister of Information, Professor Dora Akunyili, top aides and four state governors is expected to leave the country
Thursday in what will be a high diplomatic mission for the President who needs the platform to brief world leaders and Nigerians living abroad of the rationale behind his decision to seek election to the presidency of Nigeria in 2011.
Planners of the president’s political programme told Vanguard that this is a unique opportunity that the president cannot afford to miss as Nigeria needs international support for its internal democratic process.
“We need the input of the international community to stabilise democracy in Nigeria, we also need the support of the international community to fully see the amnesty programme to a logical conclusion and of course Nigeria is a major player in the global security network, which makes the attendance of Mr. President very imperative”, said the source.
The visit to the United Nations provides Jonathan the rare opportunity to meet with several groups and individuals who form an influential lobby group known as Nigerians in the Diaspora who are still disenfranchised but remains a key factor in influencing global opinion on political and economic development in Nigeria.
President Jonathan is uniquely positioned to reach world leaders to explain his accomplishments and challenges to them and members of the international business community who might be interested to come to explore business opportunities in Nigeria. Sources said Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Professor Ade Adefuye, has been busy putting togther a tight programme for Jonathan.
Although the United States government has shown favourable disposition to the leadership of Jonathan, diplomatic sources told Vanguard that “there are some areas of disquiet in the way the country is prosecuting the war against corruption and the jumbo cost of conducting elections in Nigeria which has not shown any significant improvement in the living conditions of Nigerians”.
The shifting of the dates for accomplishing the electricity power programme, the high rate of insecurity on domestic front, the instability in the oil producing region and ever increasing poverty index are some of the issues that will confront Dr. Jonathan while in New York.
Some of the Nigerians living abroad are angry that the newly signed Electoral reforms Act still denied Nigerians living abroad the right to vote even when information technology would have made it possible for them to participate in the electoral process in 2011.