The Federal Government on Thursday said it is wrong for
anyone to declare Nigeria a failed state on the basis of its security
challenges.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed
stated this in response to a recent declaration by the Council on Foreign
Affairs (CFA) in the U.S. that “Nigeria is at a point of no return with all the
signs of a failed nation’’.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on
Thursday in Abuja, the minister stressed that “Nigeria is not and cannot be a
failed state’’.
The declaration by CFA that Nigeria was a failed state and
would eventually collapse was contained in a research finding recently released
through Campbell and Rotberg.
According to him, the declaration by the Council did not
represent an official U.S. policy.
“This declaration is merely the opinions of two persons,
former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign
Relations John Campbell, and the President Emeritus of World Peace Foundation,
Robert Rotberg.
“Declaring any nation a failed state is not done at the
whims and caprices of one or two persons, no matter their status.
“Just because Nigeria is facing security challenges, which
we have acknowledged and which we are tackling, does not automatically make the
country a failed state,’’ he said.
“Yes, the Council on Foreign Relations is a prominent U.S.
public policy think tank, but its opinion is not that of the U.S.
“Like former U.S. Senator Daniel Moynihan said, ”You are
entitled to your opinion but not your facts”.
Mohammed reiterated that Nigeria did not meet the criteria
for a nation to become a failed state.
He listed the criteria to include inability to provide
public service and inability to interact with other states as a full member of
the international community.
“Yes, the non-state actors may be rampaging in some parts of
the country, they have not and cannot overwhelm this government,’’ he added.
The minister noted that it was not the first time it was
predicted that Nigeria would fail or break up.
“We were even once told that Nigeria would break up in 2015.
“But their doomsday predictions have all failed and will
fail again,’’ he said.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com