Despite Federal Government’s decision to boycott the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Capetown, South Africa, some Nigerian governors are said to be attending the forum which began on Wednesday.
But Geoffrey Onyeama, the minister of foreign affairs, explained that the presence of state governors at the froum was not in any way a gesture of flouting the federal government’s order.
Speaking to State House correspondents in Abuja on Thursday, September 5, Onyeama explained that the Nigerian delegates were already in South Africa before the federal government made a decision to boycott the forum, The Nation reports.
The foreign affairs minister said: “The forum started a long time ago and the governors were already there before our decision was taken.”
He also said that the presidency, in order to emphasise Nigeria’s disapproval of xenophobic attacks against its citizens in South Africa, gave the order.
Nigerians were outraged that the governors, who are members of the country’s ruling party – All Progressives Congress (APC) were in South Africa, despite the federal government’s withdrawal of its participation in the WEF.
The Emir of Kano and former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is also in the country for the conference.
