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President
Muhammdu Buhari
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Determined to curtail
Boko Haram insurgency, President Muhammdu Buhari will on Monday begin a state
visit to France to hold talks with President Francois Hollande. He will also explore
opportunities of more collaboration with Niger, Chad and Cameroon, which are
assisting the nation in the war against insurgency. The President was quoted as saying “it is more cost effective
politically and economically to be at peace with your neighbours. This is
something I learnt from the army.”
According
to a pre-visit review by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media
and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the visit was in response to President
Hollande’s invitation to President Buhari.
The Nation report continues:
He
said Hollande had extended olive branch to Buhari shortly after his election in
March.
The
agenda of the three-day bilateral talks will include
- Security in the Nigeria and the Lake Chad basin area.
- Boko Haram insurgency
- Review of ‘Wish List’
- To prevail on President Hollande and allies in G7 to keep their promise to assist Nigeria
- Access to military hardware, reconstruction of damaged infrastructure
- Economy and the war against corruption
He
said: “One, he (Hollande) offered the friendship and partnership of France in
President Buhari’s plan to rid Nigeria of terrorism and rebuild the country
economically.
“His
pronouncement that relations between our two countries are “strategic” has
equally excited the Nigerian foreign policy establishment. It points to
Nigeria’s opportunity.
“The
second thing President Hollande said to our then President-elect was, “come to
France and let us host to you to a bilateral discussion.”
From
here, Hollande, Germany’s Angela Merkel, Britain’s David Cameron and Obama
encouraged President Buhari to, on getting into office put together a “wish
list” of his government and country and table it at the “G7” meeting in Germany
early in June, with a promise to come to the aid of our country.
Shehu
gave elaborate details on why the visit was important to the war against Boko
Haram insurgency.
He
added: “Lastly and more importantly is the issue of security in the country and
the Lake Chad basin area.
“Since
his assumption of office, President Buhari has squared up to the threat of Boko
Haram terrorism with a single-minded determination. Without waiting for the
envisaged foreign support and assistance, Boko Haram is near resolution.
“If
they were correctly reported in their press conference a few days ago, the
military has indeed declared victory in the war. But the world still needs to
come together to help this country manage its fallout.
“In
this regard, President Hollande needs to make his friends and allies in the G7
to sharpen their response and keep their promise of assistance for which
President Buhari was requested to present a wish list.
“So
far, there is evidence of that support in the areas of training and the sharing
of intelligence. But beyond these, it is hard to say that we are getting
commensurate responses to the high hopes that we harboured in dealing with the
war and reconstruction.
“Such
promises, especially as regards access to military hardware and the
reconstruction of damaged infrastructure, donated or paid for should be pursued
so that the victory over terror in our region is not a temporary one but one
that will usher in permanent peace, tranquility and wealth for our beleaguered
populations and the part of the continent they occupy.”
On
the economy, Shehu said the meeting will also focus on it since France
investment in Nigeria is the largest in Africa.
He
said: “It is equally fundamental that France’s investment on the African continent
is the largest in Nigeria. And it is still growing. French interests here are
strongly represented by such companies as Total, ELF, LaFarge,
Societe-Generale, SCOA and so on.
“The
best outcome for Nigeria during this visit should reflect favourably on key
priorities of the Buhari administration, which are security, economy and the
war against corruption.
“An
added one would be the strengthening of cultural cooperation. That should
hopefully be beneficial to both states.
“We as a country are in the
midst of our French-speaking siblings in Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin
bordering this country to the North, East and West. The attitude of our
authorities to this ground reality has not been very good so far.”
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