President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Nigerians that he was working strenuously towards solving the country’s power problems.
Buhari spoke on Tuesday when he hosted his Togolese counterpart, Faure
Gnassingbe, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The two leaders addressed
the press after their closed-door meeting.
Buhari said his government will improve on the existing power
infrastructure and commended Nigeria’s foremost industrialist, Alhaji
Aliko Dangote for complementing the Federal Government’s efforts by
starting a refinery and gas pipeline network in Lagos.
According to him, “You can see the efforts private investors are
making. We are also building pipelines, not as formidable as what
Dangote is doing but we are improving on them.
“We also have the NLNG that is helping us to liquefy the gas and then
turn it into gas with modern technology which is making it flexible.
“We have power problem and Benin (Republic) has power problem because
they depend on us and we are working very hard to stabilise the
situation. The resources are available, the technology is available, we
are trying to stabilise the situation.
“If we improve power supply, our productivity can be competitive and
God willing, we are going to achieve our objectives,” he said.
Buhari disclosed that “we also discussed the unfortunate incidents in South Sudan and Burundi.
“It is an agonising situation - several citizens are living under
primitive conditions. We hope that the African Union (AU) meeting will
be able to stabilise the situation.”
Gnassingbe, who had inspected Dangote’s Refinery project in Lagos
earlier in the day, said it will enhance economic integration in West
Africa and reduce reliance on non-African imports.
His words: “I am impressed by the investment of Dangote because we have
been talking of socio-economic integration and promoting trade among
African countries.
“If you want to promote trade, you must have investors that are very
competitive and will contribute to reduce import from non-African
countries.
“I was told the gas pipeline that will be built will be buried 150
metres under the sea to make it safer. It means if you want to promote a
blue economy, our ocean needs to be very safe. We need security,” he
said.
Gnasingbe said he had invited Buhari to attend AU’s maritime summit holding in Togo on 15th October, 2016.
Nigeria’s economic woes affecting us - Benin Republic President
Meanwhile, the President of Benin Republic, Patrice Talon has said that
Nigeria’s economic woes are adversely affecting his country and other
African nations.
Talon, who was a guest of President Buhari at the Presidential Villa
on Tuesday as part of his one-day visit to Abuja, described Nigeria as
the engine room of the West African sub-region.
At a joint press briefing with Buhari after the visit, Talon said
Nigeria should explore its non-oil sector to increase its revenue
profile being reduced by falling oil prices in the international market.
Stressing that Nigeria remained a Big Brother in Africa, he noted that
the country relied for too long on crude oil revenue to the detriment
of other sectors.
On his discussions at the closed-door meeting with Buhari, the
Beninese leader said they focused on security and economy, as his
country is looking forward to reviving the bilateral relationship with
Nigeria, especially in the areas of trade, economy, energy development
and education.
He said: “There is illegal trade between the two countries which is
creating difficulties between us. We looked at the possibility of
re-energising the trade between the two countries so that illegal trade
can be discouraged.”
Talon invited Buhari to Benin Republic to enhance the cooperation between the two countries.
While thanking Talon for the visit, Buhari said that the Republic of
Benin had always supported efforts by the Lake Chad Basin Commission to
address insurgency and other trans-border crimes in the sub-region.
Buhari said that Nigeria is committed to making the West Africa Gas
Pipeline Project more efficient and promised continued support for
Benin, particularly in the area of energy development.
0 comments:
Post a Comment