Thanking the President for CAR evacuations, why?

Based on my reply to a friend on why I thanked the GEJ government for evacuating Nigerians from the Central African Republic (for if Nigeria was habitable, what will they have been looking for in CAR)

No matter how good the country becomes tomorrow, there'd still be Nigerians in different parts of the world from the richest to the poorest countries. Who'd would've thought there'd be Americans, non-Muslims even, living and working in Afghanistan prior to the Bush-led War on Terror in the Axis of Evil? The truth is, as citizens of any nation, there ordinarily are no restrictions to where you can live and work. So, good or bad, Nigerians will still roam the earth for reasons best known to them.

However, it is the responsibility of their governments to protect their interests everywhere, irrespective of where they are. It promotes the status of the citizen in International Relations when the government of the country in which the citizen is a foreign resident understands that that citizen's home government will go to any length to protect the life of every of their citizen resident in that foreign country. It'd reflect in the manner in which that foreign government relates with and treats the citizen of that country's resident in their terrain.

There's a second point. It also gives that citizen residing in a foreign country a sense of patriotism of his or her home country. Imagine if all Nigerians resident outside our shores were to believe that Nigeria truly cared for their welfare? They would do all in their power to promote Nigeria's growth and development wherever they are. They will wish to come back home and make Nigeria progress and be proud representatives of the country's interests abroad. It will make them refrain from anything that will ultimately malign their country's image and so will do their best to avoid untoward practices.

These are just two of many points of the import of this singular action of the Nigerian government's aim to evacuate her citizens from the warring Central African Republic, CAR. It's not as if this evacuation means things have changed or that Nigeria now has a better image in International Politics or that respect for every Nigerian life is of paramount interest to this administration (as there are too many instances to the contrary) but it is admirable that it was conceived (based on whatever warped intentions were behind it), planned and executed.

The two positives that made me thank Mr. President were that, no matter what selfish interests were behind the execution and irrespective of the fact that he was doing what was expected of his administration, lives of Nigerians were saved at government's expense and secondly, hopefully, the planning will be followed to the letter, which included resettlements for those evacuated.

It's one big step, albeit shaky, but one step all the same in the right direct for our Foreign Policy and Nigeria's image in the international arena.