Just recently, the United States warned its citizens to avoid visiting 20 Nigerian states. This will not be the first time the US Department of State will be warning its citizen to be extra cautious when travelling to Nigeria.
First and foremost, the US has the right to inform its citizens about happenings around the world, but it is also bad publicity to the image of Nigeria across the world.
At a time when we are focusing on diversifying our economy, while also encouraging foreign investors to come and do business in our country, what encouragement will American and other world investors get to come into the country to invest now, even in the states that were not mentioned as being unsafe.
What we should be talking about now is how to make Nigeria safe so as to encourage world citizens to visit. Apart from foreign investments, we can also make huge revenue through tourism, but which tourist will risk his life to visit a country that is deemed not safe?
I, therefore, want to charge our security agencies to do everything in their power to finish off the remnants of the terror group still operating in the country as soon as possible. I was glad when the Chief of Army Staff, General Buratai stated recently that Boko Haram had been seriously degraded to the extent that it could not carry out further attacks on Nigerians. We must not rest on our oars; we must continue to work towards ensuring that we achieve lasting peace in the country.
- Yemisi Soares,
Surulere, Lagos.