The Director of Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, Sam Amadi, has shared his thoughts on the recent travel ban the United States government placed on Nigeria.
Speaking on Thursday during an appearance on Arise Television, Amadi warned that it is high time for Nigeria to focus on projecting itself positively before other countries.
He urged Nigerians to stifle their desire to migrate out of the country and start thinking of ways to harness their cultural power.
Amadi also pointed out the need for more credible elections, stating that Ghana is not on the list for this reason.
He said, “The rate at which people are migrating to the United States is becoming increasingly troubling.
“Any president would be concerned about people entering under the guise of education or tourism and then overstaying.
“So I think the first is to respond domestically in a way that we begin to reduce this tendency to move out of Nigeria to just stay away from the country.
“And the second thing is to be thinking about how to harness our cultural star power. We have significant cultural power; you talk of literature, you talk of music, but they are not being properly harnessed to profile Nigeria in a better light.
“And the third issue is to have credible elections, credible government, like Ghana does. That’s really why Ghana is not on the list the US banned. This story around receiving deportees is not the point. The point is that Ghana looks good in Washington not because they are powerful, but decent.
“We have to work on that third leg to make sure that we have credible elections, credible government, and then we can now begin to be seen as a country, not just exporting oil but a country that the US could partner with.”