The Federal Government yesterday declared that it cannot be coerced by the United States of America (USA) into supporting her in the on-going war against Iraq.
Announcing government’s position in a swift response to the recent withdrawal of financial aid to the Nigerian military by the United States, Information and National Orientation Minister, Professor Jerry Gana said Nigeria’s position against the war remains unchanged. Leon H. Sullivan Summit
He told State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive
Council (FEC) meeting that Nigeria reserves the sovereign right to
express her opinion on any international matter.
We
don’t’ have to refer to any other country of the world
before taking a decision.
According to Professor Gana, the decision by President Obasanjo along with the South African and Senegalese leaders to write both the US president and the Iraqi leader on the need to avoid war was in the interest of global peace and stability.
As a leading nation in Africa, Nigeria feels it mandatory to lead
in the quest for peaceful resolution of conflicts at whatever
level,
he said, adding that notwithstanding Nigeria’s
opposition to the war against Iraq, the country was however not in
dispute with the Untied States.
Commenting on the withdrawal of military aid to Nigeria, Professor Gana said America has the right to withdraw whatever aid it offered but cannot dictate to Nigeria on how to solve her internal problems.
Nigeria has no apology to offer anybody on the Zaki Biam
issue. Therefore it is the responsibility of the Nigerian government
to protect every part of the country when the need arises. No Nigerian
is more important than the other. So let anybody withdraw
anything. What we did was for the sake of peace and security in the
country.
Professor Jerry Gana who was visibly angry, said every Nigerian knew
what exactly happened in Zaki-Biam before government took action,
adding that nobody can tell us how to handle our domestic
matters.
On the situation with Nigerians in Iraq, Professor Gana said appropriate measures have been taken, and that the Nigerian embassy in Iraq has not been closed as wrongly reported.
Meanwhile, Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Jackson Gaius-Obaseki, has assured that the war in Iraq will not worsen fuel supply situation in Nigeria.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja yesterday, Obaseki said though there would be a high demand for aviation turbine as a result of the war, the general fuel supply situation will not be affected.
If anybody is hoarding, hoping that the situation would get worse
because of the war, he will be disappointed,
he said.
Obaseki assured that the NNPC will do everything within its powers to ensure improved fuel supply across the country, saying that with the type of supply put into the system now, things will certainly improve before the end of this week.
There is a lot of supply coming in now. By yesterday, massive
bridging started in Ibadan, Apapa, Sapele, Port Harcourt, so I expect
that towards the end of this week, we should see all those
bridging,
he assured.
The GMD who pointed out that the NNPC has no control beyond the point at which it supplies fuel, stressed that the corporation has no choice than to accelerate the construction of more mega stations across the country.
He disclosed that already arrangements were on with a contractor to build three new mega stations, one each in Kano, Enugu and Port Harcourt. Obaseki said he expected that to be part of the solution and not part of the problem as the mega stations are meant to be points where consumers can go for convenient supply no matter the situation.
It would be recalled that the NNPC and chief executives of some major oil marketers on Monday met in Lagos over the loss of over 600,000 barrels per day to the crisis in Warri, Delta State where militant youths have attacked some of the major marketers.
Elf, Chevron and Shell have all shut down their operations in the Warri area, leading to a loss of 622,500 barrels of oil per day.
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