President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday called on Turkish businessmen and investors to come and explore the opportunities that abound in Nigeria. The Nigerian leader who is on a working visit to Turkey is also a guest of President Recep Erdogan of Turkey told journalists that, “We are very pleased with the progress of the meeting so far and we are going to wait for the details of meetings between the two countries. We will as a result of the meeting between the ministers and officials of both countries strengthen rapidly whatever their recommendations are.’’
Garba Shehu, Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity said his boss while commenting on the degradation of Boko Haram in Nigeria, said the improved security situation in the North-east was an eloquent testimony to the efforts of his administration in combating terrorism since he came into office in May 2015.
“We were very surprised and disturbed by the claim made by Boko Haram on what they have been getting from ISIS. We know we will be able to contain them and we have proven that we can do it. We are very pleased that Turkey is in a position to assist us and has been strengthening our educational and health institutions,’’ Buhari was further quoted as saying.
The statement by Shehu added that the two leaders also discussed the prospects of increasing their bilateral trade, which it said had exceeded $779 million in the first eight months of 2017. “There are a lot of potentialities in terms of investments and a lot is being done in the educational and health sectors in Nigeria. These will be strengthened and I assure you that Nigeria is prepared to accept Turkish business people to come and explore more of Nigeria’s potentialities.’’
It added that Erdogan in his remarks, said Nigeria had great potentials and remained “a global actor in terms of economy, demographics and its peacekeeping records,” adding that Turkey was interested in investing in Nigeria’s electricity, refineries and gas sectors, observing that increasing the flights between Turkey and Nigeria would further improve commercial and people-to-people relationships. On the fight against terrorism, Shehu said the Turkish leader added: ‘‘There is no difference between Boko Haram, Fethullah Terrorist Organisation or Daesh (ISIS), which have all killed, inflicted pain and hardship on innocent people.”
