Buhari returns after 4-day official visit to France

PRESIDENT Buhari has returned to Abuja after a four-day official visit to France.

The President’s personal assistant on new media, Bashir Ahmed, in a tweet this evening, stated:

“President Muhammadu Buhari has returned to Abuja after a successful African Finance Summit which focused on reviewing African economy, following the crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic.”

The President had on Sunday travelled to France to attend the African Finance Summit which was focused on reviewing the African economy, following shocks from the Coronavirus pandemic and getting relief, especially for the increased debt burden on countries.

The summit, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron, drew major stakeholders from global financial institutions and some heads of government, who collectively, discussed external funding and debt treatment for Africa and private sector reforms.

At the event, Buhari called on France to deepen its anti-terror cooperation with Nigeria in order to defeat terrorists in the Sahel region and beyond. 

He said jihadists had taken advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to unleash terror on innocent people and organisations across the Sahel, especially across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger as well as around the Lake Chad Basin. 

According to him, the Lake Chad Basin is where Boko Haram’s terror has festered and spread back into Nigeria, as well as launching attacks in Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

Nigeria and France, he said, should deepen anti-terror cooperation to overcome the scourge – particularly in the aftermath of the death of Chadian President, Idriss Déby.

“We know France has borne much of the strain for combating terrorism in the region. We, the leaders of Sahel countries, must also do more to present a unified front to lobby other Western nations, particularly Great Britain and the United States and the European Union for further military and humanitarian assistance,’’ he said.