Nigeria Won’t Disintegrate – US

The United States Government has said there are no signs that Nigeria will disintegrate before, during or after the February general elections.
While explaining that Nigeria is facing “big challenges,” the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, stated that the problems at stake were surmountable.
According to the American envoy, Nigerians should “throw out of the window” the idea from “some think-tank or somebody outside the (US) government” stating that Nigeria would fall apart in 2015.
Entwistle spoke in Lagos yesterday during an interactive session with journalists on the recent donation of a US naval ship, christened NNS Okpabana, to the Nigerian Navy.
The US diplomat said, “I have been plagued by the question (on Nigeria’s possible disintegration in 2015) and I have gone back to look and I can’t find any government report that said Nigeria would disintegrate in 2015. Maybe some think-tank or somebody outside the government said it; I don’t know.
“But in my opinion as the US Ambassador to this country, I am not worried in the least that Nigeria is going to disintegrate in 2015. Regardless of what someone may have said, the question is that we are now here in 2015: Do we see signs that Nigeria is going to disintegrate or fall apart or something? I don’t know what you think. But I don’t see those signs. “But I see signs of growth, optimism and I see that to minimise the challenges that you have, in this life, you have to keep on keeping on and I think the future is quite bright,” he added.
Entwistle added that if the Federal Government did what would need to be done in the coming years, especially as pertaining to “security, corruption and all of these things,” the future of Nigeria would be “very bright.”
Meanwhile, the Consul General of the United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria, Jeffrey Hawkin has described the Nigerians now warship, NNS Okpabana as a significant breakthrough on the path of the Nigerian Navy to secure Nigeria’s waters in the Gulf of the Guinea.
Speaking at a reception held to celebrate the New Naval fleet in Lagos, the Consul General said “the US was pleased to see the expanding capabilities of the Nigerian Navy with the arrival of this second high endurance cutter”.
He said the US was fully engaged with its Nigerian Navy counterparts in special trainings to counter threats of Nigerians and African security with the objective of enhancing a well policed Gulf of the Guinea, as Nigeria can count on the increasing support of the US in this shared goal.
In similar vein, the Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Usman Jiobrin has expressed delight over the successful arrival of NNS Okpabana, describing the success as part of the transformation agenda of the Federal Government in repositioning the Nigerian navy for greater operational capability.

Taneh Beemene