French President François Hollande has pledged €130 million investment to revamp Nigeria’s dilapidating infrastructure and also assist the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) with intelligence gathering and equipment.
Hollande said the equipments and intelligence support are to assist in the fight against terror while the€130million is for rebuilding of roads, provision of electricity and water supply.
He announced after a closed-door bilateral meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Elsee Palace in Paris.
French President said that his government was concerned about the increasing spate of insecurity in Nigeria and the entire West Africa and is ready to support in tackling extremism.
Their discussion dwelt more on new strategies of partnership to Nigeria and its neighbouring countries of Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic through the joint action of the MJTF to fight the insurgency and restore peace.
France intervention started with the hosting of a Regional Summit on Security in Paris which brought together the neighboring countries to chat the way forward last year.
“We provide all of the support to the countries in the region which are affected by this cult and in Nigeria, we want to provide support and solidarity,” he said.
He commended Buhari’s directive to move the military command center to Maiduguri which has helped in the fight against insurgency.
On the planned €130 million investment in the country, the French President commended the fact that Nigeria’s economy has remained strong despite the fall in the oil price in the international market which has affected Nigeria’s expected revenue.
“The Nigerian economy remains strong so, France wants to be doing business in the country.”
Hollande said that France intends to increase the visibility of its investors more in Nigeria.
President Buhari thanked the French government for his government’s interest in assisting Nigeria and expressed the readiness of his administration to partner with France for the over all development of the country.
President Buhari noted that with commitment from France, Nigeria’s next shopping list regarding support will move to other members of the G7.
“We have to depend on France and the other G7 countries for support to fight piracy” the President said.
He said “Our next shopping list is going to G7 in terms of intelligence and training. Another problem is the problem in the Gulf of Guinea, from Senegal to Angola, that area is endowed with resources like petroleum and other minerals but surrounded by piracy and theft.
“We are going to depend on France and G7 countries to flush these criminals out of the region.”
Speaking further President Buhari said that “On Nigeria’s problems, more than 67 percent of our youths and most of them under their youthful age are unemployed. We are finding best way in agriculture and mining to address this before sophisticated infrastructure and security are provided.
“We want to make sure we feed ourself and provide security before other things are also tackled.”
President Buhari lamented that about 67 percent of Nigerian youths are unemployed a situation that remains of concern to his administration.
“That is why we focus on agriculture and mining before other infrastructure including electricity are tackled.
The President will Tuesday continue with the visit and hold talks with the business community in France in opening the frontier of investment in Nigeria.
President Buhari and Hollande also discussed the issue of climate change which Nigeria is expected to contribute to at a global level.
Both Nigeria and France last year signed bilateral agreements which enable the Frech government provide $1.170 million soft loan through the french development agency AFD for the construction of high voltage power lines and substations that will connect Abuja with electrical distribution network.
The two leaders also discussed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to build a €30 million 10 to 14 megawatts solar power plant in a rural local government of Osun State.
Both leaders also discussed an earlier agreement on the establishment of a joint committee to increase trade and investment.
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