The average foreigner thinks Nigeria is all about 419 and terrorism – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has charged Nigeria’s ambassadors to market the positive values of the country, saying foreigners think it is all about 419, corruption and militancy.

In a statement issued by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, on Monday, Buhari also expressed optimism that the current recession would ebb in 2017.

Speaking in Abuja while declaring open an induction course organised by the ministry of foreign affairs for Nigerian career ambassadors-designate who were recently cleared by the senate, the president said: “We are optimistic that the external factors that partly contributed to push our economy into recession will ebb in 2017. Until then, I regret that the resources available to fund our missions abroad will not be as robust as we would like.

“We are working hard to turn around our national economy by effectively reforming our macroeconomic environment through measures, some of which were outlined in my budget speech to the national assembly last week.”

Buhari, who said the prevailing economic circumstances have led to a restructuring of Nigerian missions abroad, reminded the ambassadors-designate that , “as we are all making great sacrifices at home, we also expect you to similarly make judicious use of the resources put at the disposal of your missions”.

“As heads of missions, you will be held accountable for the utilisation of all resources under your control. These are lean times, and all of us are expected to do more with less,” he said.

He specifically charged the ambassadors-designate to change the narrative of Nigeria outside the country by playing up the positive values and outstanding contributions of Nigerians in the global arena.

“I want to emphasise your duty to change the narrative of Nigeria as seen by the outside world.  For far too long, we have allowed Nigeria to be defined by others, always emphasising our negatives. To the average foreigner, Nigeria evokes 419, terrorism, militancy, communal and religious clashes, insecurity, corruption and all our other faults,” he said.

-The Cable