Foreign Affairs minister says successful election will transform Nigeria

Story by Collins Adetunji (info@worldstagegroup.com)

The minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia has said that the successful conduct of the 2011 general election will attract huge investment opportunities into the country, and transform her.

Ajumogobia, who stated this in hometown, Abonnema in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State, where he registered in the ongoing voters’ registration exercise, also described the 2011 elections as the most important event in 2011, “because the world is watching, and expect a positive outcome, which they hope to capitalize on for investments.

“The benefits of a well conducted election will be unprecedented. There will be a lot of opportunities for our people. The wealth that will be created in Nigeria will be unprecedented,” he said.

He said that since he became foreign Affairs minister, there had been a lot of goodwill towards Nigeria from countries across the world, and noted that “she has to conduct a free, fair and credible election in order to live up to expectations.”

He said that the European Union, the US government, French government were looking up to Nigeria to conduct a free, fair and credible elections.

“The election means the Rule of Law, stability, and a level playing field for business. It means so many things. That is why so many countries are looking up to Nigeria to set an example. And I think we will. The single most important thing we need to do now is to register and vote,” he said.

“We have had a lot of support from the European Union, the French government, the US government. Everyone loves Nigeria, because it presents huge investment opportunities for the western world, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, China, India.”

He said that there had been an improvement in the registration exercise, pointing out that the process no longer consume time the way it did when it commenced.

“Every process has its problems. This is a huge enterprise. We have 774 local government areas, and 122, 000 units. It is a logistics nightmare. If the process goes on it will get better. It only took me about six minutes to be registered. The process is getting better,” he added.