by Kolapo Olapoju

After initially saying that the country may disintegrate after the 2015 election, the United States Government has now changed its mind saying there are no signs that Nigeria will fall apart – regardless of the February general elections.

The US Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, stated that Nigeria is facing huge challenges, but that the problems at stake were surmountable.

The American envoy says Nigerians should discard the thought that the country will break apart after the 2015 election.

Entwistle spoke in Lagos on Thursday, January 8, during an interactive session with journalists on the recent donation of a US naval ship to the Nigerian Navy.

The US diplomat said: “I have been plagued by the question (on Nigeria’s possible disintegration in 2015) and I have gone back to look and I can’t find any government report that said Nigeria would disintegrate in 2015. Maybe some think-tank or somebody outside the government said it; I don’t know.”

“But in my opinion as the US Ambassador to this country, I am not worried in the least that Nigeria is going to disintegrate in 2015. Regardless of what someone may have said, the question is that we are now here in 2015: Do we see signs that Nigeria is going to disintegrate or fall apart or something? I don’t know what you think. But I don’t see those signs.”

“But I see signs of growth, optimism and I see that to minimise the challenges that you have, in this life, you have to keep on keeping on and I think the future is quite bright.”

He also refuted the insinuation that the President Barack Obama administration has imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria following the reported refusal of the American government to sell Cobra helicopters to the Federal Government to prosecute the ongoing war against terrorism.

Entwistle added that the US Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria, was “still talking about a number of other types of equipment and different types of helicopters that might be more appropriate” for the Nigerian military services.

Kolapo Olapoju