France supports insecurity
OpenLife Nigeria reports that Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, former Director General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s presence at the just concluded Financing Africa Summit in France as wasted efforts.
The former Minister of External Affairs stated this on Arise TV programme on Thursday.
He stated that President Buhari’s attendance was a function of ignorance. The president left Abuja Sunday for the summit which was hosted by President Emmanuel Macron of France.
The summit which attracted 19 of the 55 African heads of state, the African Union Commission chairperson, and leaders from European nations and organizations aimed to discuss “massive support package for Africa,” an important prospect in the context of Covid-19, the current debacle around unequal vaccine access, and the much bigger challenge of equitable economic recovery.
According to Mr Buhari’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, the summit drew major stakeholders in the global finance institutions and some Heads of Government, who collectively discussed external funding and debt treatment for Africa and private sector reforms.
During the visit, President Buhari met with the French President to discuss growing security threats in Sahel and Lake Chad region, political relations, economic ties, climate change and partnership in buoying the health sector, particularly in checking spread of Covid-19, with more research and vaccines.
President Buhari also received some key players in the oil and gas sector, engineering and telecommunications, European Council and European Union Representative for Foreign and Security Policy and Commission, and members of the Nigerian community.
Specifically, he met with the Total team led by its Chairman, Patrick Pouyanne, in Paris before returning to Nigeria on Thursday evening.
Buhari was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Minister of Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, and Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire.
Also on the trip are the National Security Adviser, Babagana Mohammed Monguno and the Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Abubakar.
However, Professor Akinyemi stated unequivocally that “I am opposed to French involvement in Africa’s affairs,” adding that it was mere waste of time and energy in view of his belief that Nigeria “Will not get what she wants from France.”
The professor of international relations stressed that France is partly responsible for the unending insecurity in Nigeria saying “French fingers are dripping in blood for supporting terrorism in Nigeria and Africa. We have evidences to support our claims including how they sponsor helicopters to supply arms and ammunition to terrorists,” he stated.
Akinyemi emphasized that “French should limit their interests and investments to francophone countries. They don’t mean well for Nigeria and Buhari must have been ill advised to embark on that travel,” he stated.
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