A former American Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Walter Carrington, yesterday said the American government and other world powers are now prepared to assist Nigeria regain its status as the giant of Africa because of their confidence that President Muhammadu Buhari is an honest leader and “tough enough to turn this country around”.
Carrington spoke while delivering a lecture titled Nigeria and the future of the Black World, at the First Eminent Lecture Series of the University of Benin, UNIBEN, Edo State.
The former U.S Envoy to Nigeria noted that President Buhari would make life unbearable for the few Nigerians who corruptly enriched themselves to the detriment of the vast majority of the people.
He said: “As a private citizen Buhari lived modestly and since taking on the duties of president, he has set a refreshing example of financial transparency which all public officials should and must emulate”.
“I believe that having been elected democratically as a civilian president, President Buhari will fulfil the third of Abraham Lincoln’s prepositional triad making his a government for the people, a government which cares more for the welfare of the poor majority and disadvantaged than for the unjust enrichment of the privileged few and their enablers who too often in the past have looted the national treasury”, he added.
Carrington, who was the U.S Ambassador to Nigeria between 1993 and 1997, reiterated his love for Nigeria, which he said is evident in his marriage to Dr Arese, an indigene of Edo State.
He, however, lamented that Nigeria, with its rich potentials, ought to be a leading light in the world economy, but instead, the world leaders always referred to Johannesburg, South Africa, in terms of business instead of Abuja.
