The Centenary celebration is now in progress at
International Conference Centre, Garki Abuja. Over 12 World’s Heads of States, who were received at the airport yesterday and present at the event include, Presidents
Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibi; Paul Kagame of Rwanda; Yahya Jammeh of Gambia
and Prosper Bazombaza of Burundi. President Helen Sirleaf of Liberia and the
former Secretary-General of Organisation for African Union, Dr. Salim Ahmed
Salim, who led the Tanzanian delegation also arrived in Abuja on Wednesday for
the celebration.
Others include, President of Mauritania, Mohammed Ould Abdel
Aziz; Ethiopian President, Mr. Hailemarian Desalegh; and the European Union
President, Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso. The Zambian Minister of Defence, Mr. Edgar
Lungu, is representing the Zambian President, Micheal Saata. Israel is also
being represented by its Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Yair Shamir. United
States President Barack Obama designated State Counsellor Thomas Shannon as the
leader of a presidential delegation to the centenary in Abuja.
Also, President of the Swiss Confederation, Didier
Burkhalter, sent a letter of congratulations to President Goodluck Jonathan on
the nation’s centenary. Burkhalter is being represented by the Swiss Ambassador
to Nigeria, Dr. Hans-Rudolf Hodel.
The major highlight of the week-long activities includes an
international conference on peace and security in Africa on Thursday to be
attended by several world leaders. The celebrations will also feature the
conferment of honours on 100 Nigerians, with about 40 per cent of the awards to
be presented posthumously.
The British colonial authorities had on January 1, 1914
amalgamated what were then the separate protectorates of Southern Nigeria and
Northern Nigeria. The amalgamation gave birth to the single geo-political
entity known as Nigeria.
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