We’ll rebuild Nigeria, President Buhari assures British MPs

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday said there were high expectations from Britain in the process of rebuilding Nigeria, due to the affinity shared by the two countries.

Receiving a team of British Members of Parliament led by Chi Onwurah at State House, Abuja, President Buhari declared: “We are going to rebuild Nigeria, and there are vast opportunities for Britain and us. We share very close ties, and our expectation from you is high.”

President Buhari lamented that Nigeria has found herself in a phase of development, “which is not a very welcome one. We are disorganized because we relied on mono-economic product for too long, and now that oil price is down, we have to go back to agriculture and solid minerals. Tin, columbite, cocoa, groundnut, and others, used to be the basis of our economy, but then, oil came, and everybody began to look for cheap money. Now, we need to start all over again.”

Onwurah, Nigerian-born MP for Newcastle, said the team was in the country “to promote positive engagement between Nigeria and the UK, since we are stronger when we build on ties of the past.”

She said her team was interested in how the Diaspora can support the economic progress of Nigeria, as well as promotion of trade and diversification of the economy.

Also on the delegation made up of three MPs was the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright.

In a related development the President called on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and international aid agencies to complement the Federal Government’s efforts to increase humanitarian assistance to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the country.

Speaking while receiving the Greek Medical Charity organisation, also known as “Heart Doctors’’, at the State House, President Buhari said the Nigerian government was working hard to secure and rehabilitate communities ravaged by Boko Haram insurgents.

“It is a pathetic situation we have. There are more than two million internally displaced persons, 70 percent of whom are women and children. Of these, 60 percent are orphaned children.

“We are willing to work with organisations such as yours  to quickly rehabilitate infrastructure, rebuild schools, medical clinics and destroyed homes,’’ the President said.

President Buhari told the visiting medical charity team that the task of rehabilitating IDPs in the region was enormous, but noted that with perseverance and commensurate resources such challenges are surmountable.

He thanked the Greek doctors for their humanitarian activities in the country and assured that his administration would welcome other spirited individuals and organisations with similar intentions.

The leader of the Greek Medical Charity organization, Xenofan Yataganas, told the President that the organisation which commenced humanitarian work in Nigeria since 2002 has been involved in rebuilding schools and distributing medicines and food at IDP camps.

 

Elizabeth Archibong