President Muhammadu Buhari
Mr Ajuri Ngelale, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu
Buhari on Public Matters, says Nigerians are benefitting from the
goodwill of the President.
Ngelale said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in
Abuja while speaking on the impact of the President’s foreign trips.
He described the President as a leader known by other nations to be an incorruptible and credible leader.
“Those trips have been extremely productive.
“We are now benefiting from the goodwill of the president largely
because of the fact that the world knows that this is an incorruptible
leader – a leader with credibility and integrity.
“And Nigerians are now benefiting from that,” he said.
Ngelale expressed optimism that President Buhari’s foreign trips would
yield positive results in the form of a stronger national economy by
virtue of the bilateral agreements he signed Nigeria into.
“President Muhammadu Buhari’s excursions to the Russian Federation
and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have been very much in the interest of
the country.
“I say that because when you look at the derivables (sic) from those
trips, you will realise the extent to which those trips have now added
value to our nation’s economy.
“Specifically, we are really excited about the Russian trip because we
had a lot of series of negotiations that culminated in agreements that
we have now signed bilaterally which are all government-to-government
transactions,” he said.
The presidential aide said that some of the sectors that would directly
benefit from the bilateral agreements are solid minerals development,
transport, iron ore mining, and defence.
In the solid minerals sector, the Ajaokuta Steel Company will be
resuscitated via a one-billion-dollar facility that would be shared by
the Russian Federation, the Nigerian government, and the Afrexim Bank.
According to him, in doing so, Nigeria will be able to revitalise the steel complex and stop the importation of steel.
“We seek to industrialise our country and employ our people and lift our people out of poverty.
“We’ll finally be able to produce our own steel,” he said.
Ngelale added that the Buhari administration had prioritised the revival
of the Nigerian Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) in Itapke, Kogi State.
“So there’s a 400-million-dollar separate facility for the revival
of NIOMCO so that we have that iron ore supply to Ajaokuta for steel
development,” he said.
According to Ngelale, an agreement struck with the Russian government
will see the country supplying Nigeria with 12 M1-35 attack helicopters
which will be used in tackling security challenges confronting the
country.
“These are heavily weaponised, very stealthy, fast-attack helicopters which will make a difference in terms of anti-piracy.
“We are going to be getting some physical infrastructure from them in
terms of gunboats, gunships, and things that will help secure our
maritime territory, our coastal waters.
“We are going to be building train cars in Nigeria thereby decongesting the ports, and taking the pressure off the roads,”
he said, adding that Russian and Nigerian geoscientists would work
closely to geologically map the country in a moved aimed at developing
the gemstone mining sector.
The presidential aide said that Nigeria and Saudi Arabia had agreed to
bring together top government officials that would look at viable areas
of collaboration particularly in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian
economy.
He said that a Nigeria-Saudi Council would be established toward that end.
Saudi Arabia’s Aramco (the world’s topmost oil and gas company) is
willing to help with refinery rehabilitation, pipeline construction, the
building of world-class hospitals, for the benefit of Nigerians.
Source:(NAN)