French President François Hollande says his country will invest a total of €130 million in the development of infrastructure in Nigeria for rebuilding of roads, provision of electricity and water supply.
Hollande said this on Monday after his meeting with Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari at the Elysee Palace in Paris, adding that he would increase the visibility of French investors in Nigeria.
According to him, despite the fall in the price of crude oil in the international market which has affected Nigerian expected revenue, the country’s economy still remained strong.
“The Nigerian economy remains strong so, France wants to be doing business in the country,” he said at a joint press conference.
He also pledged that his country would assist the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) with intelligence gathering and equipment in fighting terrorism in Nigeria and the African sub region.
“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 noted thanking the President for relocating the
military command center to Maiduguri.
In his reply, President Buhari thanked the French president for choosing to assist Nigeria over insurgency.
While pledging to cooperate, President Buhari told Hollande that Nigeria would be depending on France and other G7 countries to help her tackle the menace of piracy and oil theft in the Gulf of Guinea.
“We have to depend on France and the other G7 countries for support to fight piracy” the President said adding “Our next shopping list is going to G7in 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.” Adding that they had discussed the Memorandum of Understanding to build a €30M project solar power plant in a rural local government of Osun State capacity of the solar power plant is 10 to 14 megawatts.”
President Buhari and Hollande also discussed on the climate change, issue which Nigeria is expected to contribute to at a global level.
Both Nigeria and France last year signed last year bilateral agreements which enables the French government provide 1.170 Million dollars 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.
President Buhari met with President Hollande on Monday after arriving in the country for a three-day official visit.
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