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* Buhari appreciates polish govt for hosting Nigerians fleeing from Ukraine
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
The issue of food security occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine war formed the bedrock of an agricultural pact signed Tuesday between Nigeria and Poland as both nations moved to strengthen the 60-year-old bilateral relations between them.
President Muhammadu Buhari and his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, made this known in their separate speeches shortly after the agreements were signed at the State House, Abuja.
In his speech, President Duda described the agreement as necessary in the light of the food security crisis in the wake of the Russian aggression and the war in Ukraine which he said was unjustified.
Commenting on the energy security dimension and to further develop the cooperation, the Polish president noted that Nigeria, being rich in gas, will ensure a steady increase of supply of LNG gas and oil from Nigeria to Poland and to the European Union (EU).
President Duda, who spoke through an interpreter, said that it was the first official visit by a Polish president to Nigeria, since both countries established diplomatic relations 60 years ago.
According to him, “For that very reason, this is a truly important visit to me. And once again, let me stress, is a huge honor Your Excellency.”
President Duda emphasised that both countries talked about furthering and deepening the relations between the two countries.
He further stated that: “Nigeria is the only African country with which Poland has signed an agreement on Strategic Dialogue. And actually a very good part of this strategic dialogue is the memorandum of cooperation in the area of agriculture that we have just signed a couple of minutes ago.
“It is immensely an important piece of document, especially in the light of the food security crisis that is faced right now. And not only by Nigeria, but also by the entire African continent.
“And the 10 most pivotal aspects that we raised in our conversation today both in our private tete-a-tete meeting with Mr. President, as well as during the plenary session was how to provide food security and energy security nowadays.
“Both of these topics, of course, stem from the situation that we are faced with today in Europe and to be more precise in our part of Europe. That is the aftermath of the Russian aggression and the war in Ukraine.
“And the Russian aggression against Ukraine, which is totally unjustified, has sparked off a very serious food crisis and a very serious energy crisis.
“As the country, who is also a member of the United Nations, it is so important to support Ukraine in its export of grain and food products out of the country. But it’s equally a burden to us to provide our support to Africa and in particular to our partners country, that is Nigeria.
“And that is why it’s so important to us to further strengthen the relations between Poland and Nigeria right now. And one element in strengthening that relations is the memorandum that we have signed today.
“It is very important for the future of our relations, but also for the future of the food security in Nigeria and at large. It can also contribute to the modernization and increasing the efficiency of Nigerian economy and Nigerian agriculture but it also can serve as a vehicle for sharing experiences.”
Speaking about the energy security dimension, President Duda said the talks held were essential from the perspective of supplying both LNG gas, as well as oil to Poland and to the EU.
His words: “And speaking about those natural resources, Nigeria is indeed very wealthy. And I want to also add that the first supplies of the LNG gas to our LNG gas terminal from Nigeria had already happened, just like the import of crude oil performed by our oil company Latos.
“Those shipments did happen in recent years. And that means well for the future, because we do want to further develop this cooperation. We want to increase the supplies from Nigeria to Poland. And by this way, we also want to contribute to the development of economic relations between both our countries.”
He expressed hope that the political talks will yield a very fruitful outcome and the meeting that he will have with representatives of business sectors, both from Poland and Nigeria.
The Polish president underlined that over the last 60 years, “we have been able to establish a very good relations, bilateral relations and contacts between Poland and Nigeria, on the people-to-people level. And that has happened due to many Nigerians studying in Poland, but also due to this case of Polish scientists and also due to the input of Polish engineers in the building of infrastructure in Nigeria”.
He said he believes that these good people-to-people relations will also spill over on other fields, adding that they will contribute to the development of the economic relations between both countries, which he said are so immensely important nowadays.
On his part, President Buhari thanked the Polish Government for welcoming Nigerian students whose studies were truncated by the Russia-Ukraine crisis; offering them opportunities for continued education.
He said: “I wish to seize this opportunity to commend the efforts of the Government of Poland for the assistance provided to the large number of refugees that fled into your country from Ukraine, which included a significant number of Nigerians.
“I also wish to express our sincere gratitude on the kind and generous support extended during our government evacuation of our fleeing nationals. We also appreciate the opportunities given to some of our nationals to remain in Poland to continue with their studies.”
He noted that both countries have reached agreements to increase collaboration in agriculture, energy and defence.