₦airaland Forum

President Muhammadu Buhari receives in audience Cross River State Governor Prof. Ben Ayade in State House on 26th April 2022

Truthisunique2:
Thought una say he get iftar with buhari today

Let him keep running up and down na him punishment be that

Creator of apc that isn't given right of first refusal but sent on begging tour

WE CAN MAKE THE COMMONWEALTH A REAL GLOBAL POWER

Why should our 54 countries not lend weight to each other in international bodies, compounding our influence as the EU does?

25 April 2022

Muhammadu Buhari

What becomes of the Commonwealth should one of its 15 members that is not a republic join those 39 others which are? With Jamaica considering such a move, this question is being asked. But it is misplaced: the modern Commonwealth was constituted in 1949 specifically to accommodate a republic – newly independent India – precisely after such constitutional change.

Still, it is right to debate the Commonwealth’s future. Though perfectly sustainable in its current form, it would be a disservice to its members should current levels of co-operation be the limit of our aspirations.

For a start, we should strive to reduce trade barriers, given the unity nearly all of us hold through the English language, jurisprudence and education systems. We might explore grouping more readily together at intergovernmental forums such as the United Nations to deliver outcomes for one member individually or all collectively. We should work closer on defence interoperability and mutual support in the fight against global terrorism – now centred on Africa, and which threatens new waves of refugees into the West.

Some will point to factors such as Commonwealth countries’ membership of regional trade blocs, UN ballots with members voting in opposite ways and a lack of military compatibility as proof that closer cooperation cannot be achieved. It is possible to prove these people wrong – but only if we attempt to do so.

The forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this June should be a moment when the potential for our club is reimagined. This bi-annual senior decision-making body is being hosted by Rwanda: a republic no less, and prescient, when the largest contingent of Commonwealth countries is African.

Not far from the official agenda will be the question of how Brexit will continue to affect us all.

Already the U.K. Global Tariff (UKGT) has reduced, removed or simplified tax on thousands of imported goods, which is an important step in reconfiguring Commonwealth trade. When the club’s largest economy was unable to practice the free trade it long preached, others had little incentive to lower barriers. Association within their own trade blocs is not prohibitive. There is still much more that members can do inside their respective frameworks.

A number of the Commonwealth’s African members have now signed product-based trade agreements with the UK. But a potential deal with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), set to become the world’s largest free trade area, heralds the greatest opportunity.

The UK signed the world’s first memorandum of understanding with the nascent bloc last year, with a future deal securing free trade simultaneously with nineteen African Commonwealth members, collectively representing the majority of Africa’s GDP. It would likely presage further agreements between AfCFTA and other members, further opening intra-Commonwealth trade.

With trade could come greater defence cooperation. African Commonwealth members are active in many theatres across the continent, whether battling ISIS-affiliated militants across the Sahel region in the West, the Horn of Africa in the East, or Mozambique in the South. Arms and defensive equipment are part of the solution.

There is no reason why one of the world’s foremost military manufacturers should not sell more widely to our association when it is a group of allies. When Britain does not, they must look elsewhere. Today we have a mosaic of incompatible systems. But particularly in Africa, where members find themselves on the same missions, interoperability would make a material impact on the ground.

And in diplomacy, when trade and defence ties are drawn closer, so too do geopolitical interests. The EU’s 27 members tend to have each other’s backs in, for instance, UN votes. Why should the 54 Commonwealth partners not similarly organise, lending weight to each other in such bodies and wielding more influence?

At CHOGM, these new opportunities can be grasped. What holds us back is only the limit of our ambition. For those who say this cannot be done, I say we will never know until we try.

Muhammadu Buhari is President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Blackfire:
No vacancy in aso Rock for any southerners
Obi tinubu and soon to declare Jonathan

We the NORTHians have spoken

North 2023
North 2023




Anyway I sell cows o

vicdom:

I always laugh at people who underestimate Buhari. Forget how people rate him, that guy commands humongous of influence in APC as today. He's not gonna push for consensus but anyone he supports will trash all of those aspirants in the poll. He has up to 15 apc governors who are very loyal to him, all he needs do is to call them and tell them his candidate and that's it. He did it in Chairmanship election, and he's gonna do it the primary election. El-Rufai and Ndume blatantly told seun on Channels TV that they were waiting for Buhari's signal and all of them would queue behind him. They adore and respect buhari so much, especially those governors in the north. Majority of them, if not all came to power due to Buhari's 2015 Tsunami. None of them could have won that seat if not because of Buhari's influence.

teadrake:
Failure of a President aspiring to endorse another failure.

PrinceOfLagos:
I know that Ashiere Tinubu must be there just to feel among, snap picture with the first lady, post on the internet and claim the first lady endorsed him

Mumu man

SKYHIGHfx:
Are u drunk?

SmartPolician:
This mugu thinks he's still in first tenure

Clinicals:
Is that supposed to be news?

Laggafin:
It's high time Nairaland is censored and trash not allowed to appear in any form.. I mean what da Bleep.. is it only igbos that are using the 2nd Niger bridge?? I mean a lot of people just have skulls wit no brains

foryourmindlol:
Buhari did not construct anything. Neither with his money nor with Nigeria government money.

Afonja bandit, he brought Chinese creditors to build tgst bridge with their personal money and toll Igbos for the bridge for ridiculous amounts of years with ridiculous profits. Then he used Nigeria's money to build railway and dual highway to Niger Republic.

Buhari and his zombies are cursed.

Lanretoye:
The fake pastor using the position if the VP and public funds to campaign.he should resign as vice president and face his campaign.now his logistics and funds will draw directly from government coffers...scam

Maxymilliano:
He will be kicked out by the constitution (as amended) ... Violating the constitution he swore to uphold by holding on to power beyond stipulated terms attract penalties ...

chatinent:
I don't get it. Why should Nigerians be thanking leaders for doing what they have to?

God1000:
Buhari didn't construct that bridge with his personal money