As parts of its efforts to make immigration matters easier for Nigerians living in some remote parts of the United States, the federal government has concluded the arrangement to begin the operation of a Consulate-General in California.
Also, the government of Nigeria is considering the opening of Consulate offices in Chicago, North Carolina and some other places, according to Professor Adebowale Adefuye, the Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States.
Making this known recently during a function jointly organised by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Continental Africa Chambers of Commerce,
Ambassador Ade Adefuye noted that he had been able to discuss the idea of opening a Consulate-General in St. Francisco with President Goodluck Jonathan during his last visit to the United Nations.
He added that the President assured him that everything would be put in place to begin the operation very soon, noting that it will be very easy and fast since Nigeria already has its own building in the area.
Professor Adefuye further said that Nigeria was thankful to the US government for the assistance it rendered to the country during the last historic elections, adding
that the help from the America enabled President Jonathan to fulfill the promise he earlier made to President Barrack Obama to conduct credible elections in 2011.
Adefuye, a conflict and governance specialist with some years of experience in international affairs and development also said that there is a paradigm shift in Nigeria in terms of leadership conception and the ways things are done in the country.
His words: “In short, the new dawn has been ushered with the April, 2011 elections.
The new dawn is the globalisation of ideas in Nigeria, that certain values must be present before a country can develop, one of which was a credible election where the votes of the electorates must count. And that was exactly what happened in Nigeria”
Speaking further, the Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States said that President Jonathan is committed to re-positioning Nigeria to become one of the 20
leading global economies by 2020, noting that the President has been aware of the hard work that needs to be done to eliminate negative perception, bring the desired change and improvement in the standard of life of Nigerians.
He pressed further that the government currently has the legal instruments to facilitate the active participation of the private sector in the economic development, saying that the country will surely become one of the twenty industrialized countries in the world by the year 2020.
Also speaking during the event, Mr. Henry Bienen, President Emeritus of Northwestern University noted that Nigeria has a historic opportunity to fulfill its potential and become an African economic powerhouse and a member of the world’s leading economies.
Henry Bienen, a Member of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs also said that many foreign investors eyeing African growth see Nigeria,
with its market of over 150 million people, its annual economic growth of over 7 percent, its infinite oil and gas supplies, and vast unmet demands for goods and services as the continent’s greatest opportunity.
?