President Bola Tinubu says Nigeria’s development is being undermined by it’s energy challenges but he is determined to bring about transformation in the country.
Tinubu, made this statement on Sunday, October 29 while hosting the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
“I know Germany has advanced a lot in protecting the environment and modernising energy to meet the 21st century needs of both the world and Europe in particular. Nigeria is still crawling, but we are determined to change the narrative and bring about a transformative government in the country,” Tinubu told the visiting German Chancellor.
Welcoming the delegation, Tinubu said: “It is a joy to see you here. It was just about a few days ago that the Supreme Court of Nigeria had a final say on our electoral exercise. The distraction is over. This gives us more time to focus on governance for the people and moving Nigeria forward for economic opportunities and prosperity that will defend democracy.
“In our last tête-à-tête, you made a promise that you will be visiting Nigeria and thank you and your delegation for keeping that promise. It is an honor for me to see you here.”
He reminded Scholz that Nigeria was also the largest economy in Africa, which is equally blessed with a good environment, time of weather and mineral resources.
“Our hydrocarbon industry is still fledging environmentally while we are moving towards the transition energy source.
“You are very welcome with your delegation to partner with us in terms of education, power, mineral resources and all the other opportunities. We have gone a long way to bring about the security of our people.
“You will have noticed, I don’t need to go about the various problems happening in the Sahel region of Africa. You’ve seen and noticed the coup in Guinea and recently in Niger republic.
“We had people diplomatically managing the situation. The need for you to help in that aspect of security will be emphasised and we will continue to require your knowledge. We thank you for the past contributions, particularly police, law enforcement training. We need more help”.
German Chancellor, Scholz said;
“I’m very happy that we can work on this discussion, even on the question on how we can continue to support you in doing the best and having this insecurity questions in your country as well.
“We will go into the details later, but I can assure you that we will continue our support and our cooperation also in this field. One of the main aspects for cooperation will be developing the economy and using the economic opportunities of your country.
“As you already said, there are a lot of chances not just from gas and oil, which is traditionally linked to your country, but there’s a lot of room for improvement and for better using the capacities of your country, but also for going into investments for the future, which is about hydrogen and all the things that are important for an economy that is able to produce all the necessary goods for the people without harming the environment.”
