Former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Joe Keshi has said that while agreements and diplomatic engagements may be signed in the President’s visit to the UK, the true measure of the visit will be whether it brings tangible economic and educational benefits back home.
“I want to believe that a number of agreements will be signed and a number of MOUs will be signed—maybe on defense, on science and technology, on so many things. The major problem at the end of the day is translating some of those agreements into practical things that will benefit the Nigerian people.
“Because at the end of the day, when the glamour is over, when the curtain is down, the real work begins tomorrow with the meeting with the Prime Minister and the second part of it will be the implementation of the decisions that will be taken in London tomorrow”, he said.
He emphasised the need for the President’s visit to deliver tangible benefits to Nigerians, noting that implementation of signed agreements would be more helpful to Nigerians.
“The implementation of those agreements—particularly for me, education, science and technology, health, and to a large extent defense as well. If we can get some help in terms of defense assistance in the training of not just our soldiers, but also our policemen, our police force rather, that would be very, very helpful to the Nigerian state”, he stressed.
Amb. Keshi also cautioned that many past MOUs were never implemented, stressing the need for a dedicated team to ensure follow-through this time.
“A number of MOUs have been signed in the past that were never implemented. So, it’s important that we have a team that is going to implement the MOUs. I think that to a large extent, no matter what happens, the Nigerian people will benefit”, he said.
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