The Government of the United Kingdom says it would like to have a systematic foreign policy dialogue with the Government of Nigeria once ministers and advisers are put in place.
British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, said.
Montgomery expressed hope for a foreign policy dialogue, which he said was for Nigeria’s role in the multilateral world.
“We very much hope to hold that dialogue because this is not just about our bilateral relations with Nigeria.
“It is about Nigeria’s role in the multilateral world and on the continent and beyond and we are very keen to see where our interests clearly overlap, then we need to collaborate.
“Where they do not overlap, we need to stand and have mutual respect because that is part of the challenges of diplomacy.
“We do not have to agree on everything, we should try and understand everything as much as possible.”
On the crisis in Sudan, Montgomery expressed sympathy for Nigerian students and citizens who were studying and involved in other affairs at the time.
NAN recalls that the war that broke out in Sudan disrupted the academic programmes of many Nigerian students which led to their evacuation back to the country.
So far, 2,518 citizens were repatriated from Port Sudan, arriving at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
Also, another 125 returned to Nigeria from Sudan, making a total of 2,643 returnees.
The envoy said the UK government hoped Nigeria would continue to play its role in regional stabilisation.
“Nigeria is such a critical player in the ECOWAS and the African Union, apart from obviously being active in the United Nations, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
“So our hope is that Nigeria will continue to play its rightful role as the biggest economy and the biggest country in Africa, one of the biggest historical players in regional stabilisation.
“We do understand that there are a lot of internal challenges in the North-East and the North-West now.
“But we also heard with interest His Excellency, President Tinubu’s statement in his inauguration speech that he wanted Nigeria to be more active on the regional and global stage.
“I think that the work that Nigeria does in the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad Basin is really excellent and it gets a lot of huge praise from our military personnel working with them.
“So we know Nigeria has the capability,” he said.
