US: We’ve Missed Nigeria’s Voice on Global Platform

 Ugochukwu Ezeagwula

The United States of America yesterday declared that Nigeria's voice on the global platform has been missed, expressing its desire for “a really dynamic and robust leadership, which Nigeria is known for in the international and regional fora”.
US Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms. Robin Sanders, who spoke at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum said, “We look forward to working with Nigeria.We‘ve missed Nigeria’s voice on the global platform and we look forward to having Nigeria’s energy and dynamism back on the world stage as a non-permanent member of the UN Securrity Council.”
Sanders said her country was really looking forward to having a great friendship and working together with Nigeria on some of the tough global issues .

She reaffirmed the US pledge to extend technical assistance to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to organise credible, free and fair polls in 2011, noting that giving technical assistance is one thing but that ‘internal political democracy’ is what Nigeria and Nigerians should do for themselves.
According to her, no outside friend can do such for Nigeria. “That is going to come from the political will; only Nigerian elements have the role there. But on the things that are technical to do: like trying to ensure that your voters’ registration is transparent, like making sure that the timetable is accurate to the time when elections should be held.
“So, the big challenge is that you do not know when the elections are going to be held yet, though it is in the hands of the National Assembly. Those are the things that we were briefed on from your side and I hope resolutions will be made very quickly. Election date is one of the things that will figure out everything else.

In discussing with our Nigerian friends, we thought that will be one of the most important, given the fact that Nigeria is entering her election year in 2011. So, with that in mind, the BNC was signed in April in Washington by the federal government. The first session of the working group is what we had very recently. I will tell you quite honestly that the focus of the BNC’s first working group was on elections credibility. Emphasis was on clean, unrigged and transparent election, which is the order and theme of the present day.

On the level of relationship between Nigeria and the US, Sanders said: “The relationship, when I arrived was still very positive. Over the last two and a half years, “we have built on that; we have added some other things to the dialogue, which I think are unique. We have also raised the profile of the relationship. So, I never thought that we had a bad relationship; I always thought we had a good relationship as good friends and good partners. With good partners, there are always things you want to work on and improve.”

Sanders noted that with the consummation of the Bi-National Commission (BNC) recently, which, she noted, is a new strategic dialogue for mutual engagement with Nigeria on a number of bilateral issues, “who knows how that is going to grow!”
The BNC, the US envoy added, has four major thematic areas being focused on, namely; governance, transparency and integrity.
“We have heard a lot of things from our counterparts, including INEC’s representative as well - how they plan to do that. On our side, we talked about what assistance we could provide to support the efforts that are already on ground; to try to achieve that very lofty goal. We have heard what Nigerians say they want for 2011, and so, some of the things we have offered, we are going to discuss. I can highlight them here as well.