Nigeria’s sickly leader, Umaru Yar’adua, will not speak at the 64th United Nations General Assembly in New York, after all.
This is contrary to the impression energetically pushed in the past few weeks by his aides that he would be attending the event, which he also missed last year. At that event, he was represented by the lackluster Foreign Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, and the increasingly unpopular Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Michael Aondoakaa. Mr. Maduekwe spoke for Yar’Adua on the last day of the general debate, a sad situation for Nigeria as most world leaders had already left for home.
Yar’Adua’s decision to skip the General Assembly is thought to be related to Nigeria’s dwindling fortunes on the international scene, as well as related diplomatic embarrassments. Among them, his Principal Private Secretary, Mr. David Edevbie, is currently being sought for trial by the police in the United Kingdom over his involvement in the outright stealing of $38.5 million from the proceeds of V-Mobile divestment of Delta and Akwa Ibom states.
Yar’Adua’s government is also said to be embarrassed by the fact that should he travel to New York, he would not even have the comfort of meeting with President Barak Obama or any other major world leader. Saharareporters has learnt that efforts made by his aides to schedule high–level meetings with them were generally rebuffed. The US President, for his part, preferred a parley with a bunch of African leaders to a private meeting with Yar’Adua.
Analysts say that another factor that may have influenced Yar’Adua’s decision to remain in Abuja is the fact that while he is in New York, the real action will be at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh, 370 miles south, with such countries as South Africa, Indonesia, Brazil, India and Argentina among those joining the industrialized countries. While Nigeria has often talked about development, those countries have a lot more to show.
Another factor that may have pushed the pin into Yar’Adua’s international balloon concerns the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which are targets of development that nations are expected to meet by 2010. While some countries even regard those targets as “minimum”, not “millennium,” and are working to exceed them, Yar’Adua told The Guardian in April Nigeria would not meet several of them. He mentioned such key MDGs targets as poverty-reduction, maternal health, education and child health as those that Nigeria would not achieve.
In a curious twist three weeks ago, Amina Ibrahim, who is Yar’Adua’s Presidential Assistant on the MDGs, told the local press that in order for Nigeria to meet the MDGs, it would need to invest N4 trillion per year from now, about N24 trillion by 2010. Yar’Adua is not thought to be ready for penetrating questions from the international press on these contradictions.
Also, recently, Nigeria was embarrassed by the appointment of a junior Rwandan military officer over a Nigerian as the Force Commander of the UN-African Union Hybrid Force in Darfur (UNAMID), a post vacated by the well-regarded Gen. Martin Agwai of Nigeria. President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua offered a tepid response to the development that analysts said was worse than the appointment of the Rwandan, who trained in Nigeria, and who now has command of Nigerian sector officers in Sudan who are his military seniors.
Another concern in Abuja is said to be the unprecedented revocation of the appointment of newly appointed Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Professor Tunde Adeniran, by the US State Department right after Foreign Minister Maduekwe had hosted a farewell dinner for him. Prof. Adeniran was sent back home from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport Abuja when the US communicated their decision to Mr. Maduekwe about his ambassadorial accreditation.
In addition to all of this, Yar’Adua’s health continues to be uncertain. He only recently returned from Saudi Arabia where he underwent medical treatment at the German hospital in Jeddah.
More than 140 Heads of State or Government will take part in the General Assembly’s annual debate and the specialized summits, which will this year focus on such global challenges as climate change, nuclear security and non-proliferation, as well as the world financial and economic crisis.
Those leaders will include Chinese President Hu Jintao will be the first Chinese leader in over 30 years to speak at the General Assembly. When President Obama takes the microphone next week, it will also be his first time.
Yar’Adua’s absence will deny Nigeria the opportunity to share the stage with the planet’s movers and shakers, as well as hold important bilaterals and business meetings that are possible because of the presence of so many leaders in New York. Yar’Adua’s absence in the mix confirms Nigeria’s deepening irrelevance, even in Africa.
Mr. Maduekwe, who is currently traveling in Brazil, will again represent Nigeria in the general debate. He is expected to arrive in New York at 8:30 PM via Brazilian Tam airline on September 18 . As is the convention, he will speak only among Ministers, when all the Heads of State and Government have been heard and have heard each other, and invariably left. Last year, to him fell the ignominy of speaking at the closing session, long after the lions, having had their roar and their choice of meat, had returned to their lair.
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