TheCable

The national assembly says Nigerians should expect restructuring of the country’s foreign policy to bring it in line with global best practices.

Speaking with State House correspondents on Friday, Abubakar Bello and Abdulmumini Jibrin, chairmen of the senate and house of representatives’ committees on foreign affairs, said they met with President Bola Tinubu to chart a way forward for a clearer policy.

Bello said they discussed how to have a robust clear foreign policy for the understanding of everyone and the benefit of the country.

He said Nigerians would soon see changes in the foreign policy, noting that efforts would be made to improve it.

“We strongly believe that necessary steps must be taken to improve the image of Nigeria and Nigerians in the international scene. And I am glad Mr. President has taken bold steps towards ensuring that,” Bello said.

“So, going forward in next coming months, hopefully, we’ll start seeing some changes with regards to our foreign policies that will be clear and well understood by all concerned to ensure that Nigeria and Nigerians are given the right place in international scene.

“So, essentially, without waste of time, that is the reason we saw Mr. President today, and I think we had a very good meeting.

“And we agreed to join hands between the executive arm and the legislative arm to work together towards achieving these goals.”

Bello said there has been no major review of the Nigerian foreign policy, adding that the time has come to take the bold step towards making it to conform with best practices and international standards.

“So, yes, I believe going forward, we’re going to be working very hard with the executive arm to look at all our previous agreements and treaties or what have you, to see those ones that need to be amended or those ones that need to be implemented,” he said.

“So yes, there’s a lot of work to be done. And by God’s grace, I think we will sail through.”