UN lauds Nigeria’s handling of Iran’s arms shipment saga

Posted by admin Headlines Sunday, January 23rd, 2011

The United Nations, UN, has commended Nigeria for its mature handling of the Iran’s arm shipment furore, at the end of an inspection tour of the impounded weapons.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia, told newsmen, weekend, in Abuja that the team had said at the end of its nine-day inspection that “Nigeria acted in a model way, worthy of commendation.”

The team met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Odein Ajumogobia and top security officers for the inspection in Lagos.

Nigeria had requested the intervention of the UN Security Council on the arms shipment, which was intercepted at the Tin Can Island port in October 2010.

The weapons include rocket launchers and grenades labelled as building materials concealed in a container.

The minister explained that the team recommended “experience-sharing” of the issue with other members of ECOWAS to create awareness and ways to address similar issues.

“One of their recommendations was that we could share the experience in the sub-region, since the shipment came into Nigeria, it could come through any country in the sub-region. They thought Nigeria acted in a model way and we could share the experience with other countries because we are all vulnerable to these things,” he said.

Ajumogobia said the team also expressed its willingness to collaborate with Nigeria in organising a seminar on arms proliferation.

The minister, who noted that the weapons were being presented as evidence at a trial, said the report of the inspection team would be presented to the UN Security Council after the trial.

-Vanguardwp_posts