The U.S. Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle, has commended the vibrancy of Nigeria’s democracy and openness of the Nigerian media.
Entwistle made the statement in Abuja of Thursday during a media Roundtable with some senior editors.
He described democracy as a discussion, adding that it was up to Nigerians to decide the direction they wanted their country to go.
He said Nigerians, like Americans realised that democracy took a long time and courage to grow.
The envoy said democracy was more than elections in as much as they were important, adding democracy included the separation of powers, an independent judiciary, among others.
“Compared with other areas I have worked in, I see the public here as wide open.’’
He said that the concerns expressed by the U.S. over the Anambra Governorship election was not in the spirit of criticism but “in the spirit of partnership” .
The envoy said the views were expressed “in the sense that we look forward to working with the electoral commission as it heads towards presidential elections whenever it may be so that we can help them build up their capacity and develop their resources.
“So we made those comments in the spirit of support and collaboration with INEC.
“We are discussing internally right now in the U.S. Embassy our approach to the elections, what resources will be available and we look forward to sitting down with INEC and other partners to discuss how we can help the Nigerian people have a credible and transparent election that they deserve and they want.’’
He said that in all democracies, government officials should spend public resources as they were meant.
The envoy said it was important to develop Nigerian election observation groups, to develop the capacity of Nigerian citizens to monitor and assess their own elections.
He also said that the U.S. and Nigeria had been exchanging ideas on accountability and urged Nigerians to make available information that might help resolve unethical financial transactions in government and business.
Entwistle expressed gratitude to Nigeria for its role in global peacekeeping operations and added that the U.S. looked forward to working closely with the country at the UN Security Council in the next two years.
He said that Nigeria should concentrate efforts in the problems in South Sudan and Central African Republic as a member of the UN Security Council in the next two years.
He said that the U.S. regarded Nigeria as a strategic partner and stressed that the fact President Barack Obama had yet to visit Nigeria did not mean that Nigeria’s rating in the U.S. had dropped.
Entwistle said that the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan was among three world leaders that Obama granted audience in October, last year, was a reflection of the respect the U.S. had for Nigeria.
He promised to expand relations between his country and Nigeria in the areas of trade and investment, education and health, adding the relationship should go beyond government relations.
“For example, on the education and cultural front, we have a very interesting initiative, the Young African Initiative,’’ the envoy said, explaining that the initiative was aimed at developing the capacities of young Africans for national development.
He said he was also interested in the private sector, adding that it was wrong in diplomatic circles to assume that the work of diplomacy depended only on government-to-government relationships. (NAN)
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