Kemi Badenoch
Presidency says Badenoch’s comments can’t affect Nigeria’s investment drive
The Presidency has allayed fears that the UK Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch’s ‘denigrating’ Nigeria could affect the country’s investment drive.
The Presidency said the comments are aimed at gaining acceptance from her party members.
Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communications, Daniel Bwala, spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
Indeed, Badenoch recently said she her intention is not that the UK becomes like Nigeria where the government has failed.
Bwala, however, said: “The only problem we have with Kemi, I think, is the rhetoric because Kemi belongs to the right base in the United Kingdom which is what you see in this populism around the world that you can deepen on your support system if you can feed off of the anger of the people.
“And so she’s building a rhetoric of denigrating Nigeria, demarketing in Nigeria, so she can probably win the acceptance or acceptation of the rights in her party. And that to me is counterproductive because if you look at Rishi Sunak, he is also of Indian origin. There has been this issue of gang rape in India. He has never used that as a weapon to promote what he believed to be a departure from what is likely to be believed as hereditary or history of the Indian people, but she has always denigrated Nigeria.”
Bwala allayed fears what Badenoch’s remarks could do to Nigeria’s image, especially as the country tries to investors back into the country.
According to him, “I don’t think it would have an effect because she’s not the government in power. Usually, these international relationships or collaborations are dealings between governments. Because she’s not the government in power, it will not have any effect.
“Secondly, because she’s a Nigerian, investors will be smart enough to access what she’s saying, whether it is born out of rhetoric.”