Ex-British Prime Minister Offers Help To Nigerian Governors

BEVERLY HILLS, December 17, (THEWILL) – A former British prime minister, Mr. Tony Blair has promised to provide “great ideas, with great reality” to governors of Nigeria's 36 states to help them deliver change in areas of priority.

Blair, who made the pledge at a meeting with the governors which ended late Wednesday at the presidential villa, Abuja, said it was “an exciting opportunity to visit Nigeria and meet with the governors, especially in the face of the current oil price”.

He charged them to be up and about, stressing that the most difficult thing in governance lies in the ability to deliver on campaign promises, assuring that whenever there was a challenge, his foundation would bring its experts to help in decision-making.

Disclosing that the Tony Blair Foundation was open to “the cry for help from any state in need of assistance”, the ex-prime minister pointed out that: “Politics is a real tough business and the toughest challenge is how you get things done and you need great ideas, with great reality. What we do therefore is to work with countries.

“We work in different countries in Africa where we help leaders either at the national level or state level to make a change.

“There is great goodwill and desire for the country to do well and my foundation, as a charity organisation, will be collaborating and working at the state level wherever you've got priorities.

“Where you think you need some help, we are there ready to have people come live and work with your people to make that change happen.”

Addressing newsmen after the meeting, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state disclosed that Blair related his experience in governance with the governors and “not to teach them what to do”.

“He has come to introduce his foundation to us and to tell us how it can help us in areas of priority development because like he said, no one can identify our areas of priority better than us,” the Edo Governor added.