TheCable

President François Hollande of France has pledged that his administration will assist the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) with intelligence gathering and equipment to check the activities of insurgents in Nigeria and beyond.

Hollande made this known after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at Elsee Palace in Paris.

The French president, who was addressing a joint news conference, expressed the concern of his government about the increasing spate of insecurity in Nigeria and the entire West Africa sub-region.

According to him, his administration is ready to render support and assistance to Nigeria so that it can tackle insurgency and all forms of extremism.

He said discussed with Buhari, new strategies of partnership that will enable Nigeria and its neighboring countries of Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic, through the joint action of the MJTF, fight the insurgency and restore peace.

Hollande recalled that as an intervention to assist in the fight against terrorism, France last year, hosted a regional summit on security in Paris, which brought together the neighboring countries to chart the way forward.

“We provide all of the support to the countries in the region which are affected by this cult and in Nigeria, we want to provide support and solidarity,” he said.

He thanked Buhari for his recent actions such as the movement of the military command centre to Maiduguri, which he said, helped tremendously in weakening the insurgents.

According to Hollande, France has concluded arrangements to invest a total of €130million in the development of infrastructure in Nigeria for rebuilding of roads, provision of electricity and water supply.

He noted that in spite of the fall in the price of crude oil in the international market, which has affected Nigerian expected revenue, the country’s economy still remains strong.

“The Nigerian economy remains strong, so France wants to be doing business in the country,” he said.

Hollande said France intended to increase the visibility of its investors more in Nigeria.

In his remarks, Buhari thanked his French counterpart for his administration’s interest to assist Nigeria. He expressed the readiness of his administration to partner with France for the overall development of both countries.

Buhari noted that with commitment from France, Nigeria’s next shopping list regarding support will move to other members of the G7.

“We have to depend on France and the other G7 countries for support to fight piracy. Our next shopping list is going to G7 in terms of intelligence and training,” he said.

“Another problem is the problem in the Gulf of Guinea, from Senegal to Angola; that area is endowed with resources like petroleum and other minerals but surrounded by piracy and theft.

“We are going to depend on France and G7 countries to flush these criminals out of the region.’’

On Nigeria’s problems, Buhari lamented that more than 67 per cent of youths, most of them under their youthful age, are unemployed.

“We are finding best way in agriculture and mining to address this challenge before sophisticated infrastructure and security are provided,” he said.

“We want to make sure we feed ourselves and provide security before other things are also tackled.”