Hillary Clinton in Nigeria

I am glad to hear that the secretary of states Senator Hillary Clinton is on her way to Nigeria, the most populous country in the African continent, it has been said that may be 1 in every 5 persons of African descent is a Nigerian. It therefore makes it imperative for the US to consider some form of engagement with the leaders of that country.

this is a country that was skirted by the President, Barack Obama during his tour of the West Coast of Africa recently. Many leaders of thought in Nigeria were not at all pleased with, what they considered a slight, when he the President chose to visit Ghana, a relatively smaller country, but a more stable economy. Many of us Americans who share the feelings of this administration, on avoiding the country at least on his maiden visit, were not amused at the statements credited to our Nigerian leaders and other citizens who shared their leaders views.

We felt that a nation that could not organize elections in a free, and fair manner, should not be rewarded. A nation whose leaders only have poor infrastructure to show the world, as evidence of progress need to be told that Obama, was not impressed by the so -called face lift of Lagos state. A state that clears the road for construction, without adequate compensation to those laborers who did the job, and does not offer to clear the log jam created by inadequate remuneration to it's doctors.

As i mention in my soon to be published book Barack Obama, 1st African American president- successful timing, I indicated that many Nigerians in diaspora, preferred Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama, during the Democratic presidential primaries, for the single fact, that they trusted her more, to deal with issues arising in their country. This feelings dated back from the days the Clintons were in the white house, many Nigerians, see her and her husband Bill, as very close to Africans, particularly, Nigeria. This closeness, they felt would translate to better relations and good treatment from the US.

It therefore comes as a welcome news that she is in Abuja for talks. I will twit about this on my twitter site http://twitter.com/yakit70.