May 20, 2021
By: Francis F.M. Harding
The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Madam Mamadi Gobeh Kamara on Monday 17th May 2021, hosted the delegation from Nigeria National Armed Forces Command and Staff College who are in the country on a study tour from the 15-23 May, 2021 at the Ministry’s main Conference Hall, Tower Hill Freetown.
Welcoming the delegation, the Deputy Director of the Africa Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr. Henry Nyandemoh said that the Ministry has hosted a delegation from the Nigeria Defense College who had been in the country on a study tour and had visited the Ministry for tutorial on the country’s Foreign Policy and its relations to national development. He continued that the visit on Monday is for tutorial how Sierra Leone had handled the Ebola epidemic, and now responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Giving the purpose of the visit, the Team Leader of the delegation, Commodore Monday Apeh Abbah expresses on behalf of his team warm appreciation for the hospitality given to them upon arrival by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Giving the scope of the training offered by the Nigeria National Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Commodore Abbah said the college is a joint service institution for the training of Operational and Tactical Level Officers from the Nigeria Armed Forced, Para-Military personnel and civilian staff from Ministries, Departments and Agencies in their country. He added that the College also trains Military officers from around the world.
The Team Leader said as part of the curriculum of the College, annually, senior participants from the senior courses are opportune to travel to selected Africa Countries to study how individual governments handled issues with specific emphasis on a particular theme chosen for such visit.
The 2021 them, he said is “National Efforts towards Improved Regional Security, COVID-19 in Perspective”. The students, he furthered, were expected to carryout detailed research in the country of visit and come up with possible solutions of how the host country has done it so well.
Commodore Monday Apeh Abbeh informed the meeting that the delegation is in Sierra Leone to study how the country has done it so well in handling the Ebola epidemic and the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Receiving the delegation on behalf of the Minister Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Prof David Francis, deputy Minister, Madam Mamadi Gobeh Kamara welcomed the delegation to the beautiful shores of Sierra Leone on behalf of His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio, the Government and People of Sierra Leone.
Madam Kamara expressed delight to have received the fifty-two man contingent, comprising of Senior Military Officers, Academics and Diplomats who are in the country on a study tour which has commenced on the 15th and will end on the 23rd May, 2021.
Deputy Minister said is an important aspect of the delegation’s course package of the college that afford participants with the opportunity to learn from other countries how government issues are handled; assuring that, the theme of this year’s study Tour, “National Efforts towards Improved Regional Security, COVID-19 in Perspective” would be handled by the competent authorities that they would be meeting. Acting Minister said Sierra Leone has made tremendous strides since the end of the civil in 2002 and can now be viewed as an example for many other countries challenged with difficulty in post conflict transition, as the country now enjoy a consolidated democratic political system, improved security, it has a solid basis for decentralized governance and a sustained donor engagement.
The Acting Minister spoke on the devastating global effect of COVID-19 on human lives and the world’s economy stating that, global efforts and collaboration should be seen as the key cornerstone in addressing the various challenges posed by the pandemic as the world has entered into the realm of vaccine diplomacy.
Present at the meeting were Directors, Deputy Directors from the various Directorate and staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.