Nigeria, Britain share set of values - British envoy

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Andrew Lyold, has explained that Nigeria  and Britain have a strong and shared set of values and aspirations of democratic freedoms and economic progress.He stressed that those values and aspirations were being tested around the world today, especially in Africa, highlighting that  they would further  be tested in Nigeria too, in the  April general polls, when millions of Nigerians would cast their votes.The British envoy stated this on Tuesday, in Abuja, during the commemoration of the Queen of Englands birthday, adding that among those values were democratic freedom and economic progress. He noted further that his  first visit  to Nigeria, as a young diplomat, was between 1987 and 1990, stating that  the world in 2011 was quite different to the world of 1990, as  38 new countries had emerged. Accordingly he said the global economy has tripled, with hundreds of millions of people being lifted out of poverty.And the world continues to change, I think, by a constant and growing demand for economic progress and democratic freedoms, he said.The High Commissioner stressed that as his home countrys  foreign secretary said last week, that  the thirst for greater political and economic freedom continues to gather unstoppable momentum, people want freedom - the rule of law instead of the rule of state intelligence organizations, governments which they can choose and change, access to information, and economic opportunity free of corruption - these are the common aspirations of people everywhere.Political and economic freedoms, according to him, were what the United Nations  Security Council, including Nigeria, voted for when they supported action to protect the people of Libya.He reiterated that the intervention there was necessary to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, including  legal as authorised by the United Nations Security Council, and rightbecause it was clear that none of the alternatives would have deflected Qadhafi from brutalizing Libyan citizens.
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