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No Independence Parade Took Place In The Villa –
Jonathan Newsdiaryonline
Thurs Oct 6,2011
President Jonathan :What's going on
here ?
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Thursday in Kigali, Rwanda
explained that contrary to the impression in some quarters that
Nigeria marked its 51st Independence Anniversary celebration
with a parade in the Presidential Villa for security reasons,
there was no such parade.
Responding to a question during a Joint Press Conference with
his Rwandan host, President Paul Kagame, to mark the end of his
two-day official visit, President Jonathan said what actually
took place was the ceremonial weekly change of guards at the
Villa because a decision had earlier been taken by the Federal
Government to observe a low-key independence anniversary.
“The decision to observe a low-key anniversary was not
necessarily to conserve funds but because we cannot celebrate
every year. It is a wrong notion that we celebrated in the State
House. We had a low-key anniversary. No country celebrates
National Day every year and invites foreign leaders. Last year
we celebrated 50 years independence anniversary on October 1 and
my inauguration as President took place on May 29 this year and
for both events we invited world and African leaders. And
October this year you want to invite them again? Even next year
2012 and 2013 will be low-key but we will celebrate in 2014 to
commemorate 100 years of Nigeria’s amalgamation as one country
in 1914. So there will be centenary celebrations,” he said.
Noting that the issue of independence anniversary was not only
misunderstood but was also politicised and manipulated by vested
political interests, the President dismissed the suggestion that
the threat by some terrorist groups informed the cancellation of
the independence
anniversary military parade at the Eagle Square, Abuja and shift
of venue.
Asked if Nigeria was safe for foreign investors, President
Jonathan replied in the affirmative referring to the recent
visit of Bill Gates, one of the richest persons in the world.
On lessons Nigeria can learn from the genocide in Rwanda,
President Jonathan who had visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial
Centre where he laid a wreath in memory of the 250,000 victims
interred in mass graves, said that Africans should learn to
resolve problems and conflicts before they degenerate out of
control.
On deepening bilateral relations, the President said Nigeria and
Rwanda were working on sharing experiences in public health,
space technology and entering into a Bilateral Air Services
Agreement (BASA) while securing visas by potential investors
would be eased.
He also promised that Nigeria would in the near future
reciprocate by opening a diplomatic mission in Kigali as Rwanda
did recently in Abuja. President
Kagame had thanked Nigeria for its long-standing support
especially through Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps (TAC)
programme, while a joint communiqué issued at the end of the
visit committed both countries to ensuring the socio-economic
transformation of their peoples in the area of infrastructure,
energy, Information Communication Technology (ICT), education
and health.
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