President Muhammadu Buhari
Senator Iroegbu in Abuja
The Spanish Government has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari
held meeting with King of Spain on various issues of mutual importance,
especially on how to end Boko Haram terrorism in the country, during
last month's United Nation General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
The Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Alfonso Barnuevo Sebastián de Erice,
said this during a press briefing on an exchange on Spanish-Nigeria
relations and the Spanish cultural week celebrated on the occasion of
the Spanish National day next week.
Sebastián de Erice who described the meeting as "excellent" on all
fronts, said that the two leaders’ discussions centred mainly on how to
improve security and economic ties.
He said that apart from the area of strengthening security cooperation
on ending Boko Haram terrorism, his country would be supporting
President Buhari's economic policies.
"We aim to strengthen the excellent relations between Spain and
Nigeria. These are relations based on friendship, trust and mutual
respect, which have been consolidated as the years went by. We see hope
in Nigeria. We want to work closely with the new administration of
President Buhari. A solid and prosperous Nigeria is also important to
Spain. The government of Spain has confidence the economic reforms of
President Buhari.
"President Buhari and H. M. the King of Spain held a meeting in New
York in September. I can only qualify this meeting as excellent for our
relations. What will be my main messages this year."
Speaking further on Boko Haram menace, the Spanish Ambassador said that
his country would be channeling some support and funding to stabilising
and rebuilding the terrorism-ravaged North East.
He lauded the new strategy adopted by Buhari administration in dealing
with the state of insecurity, which he noted, has been effective so far.
Sebastián de Erice however called for more intelligence driven approach
to tackling the menace, while refusing to speak if issuing deadline to
ending terrorism by the end of the year was appropriate or not.
He said: "We understand the situation of Nigeria on Boko Haram because
we also suffer terrorism. So we are finalising partnership with Nigeria
for security. We will always support them in this fight against
terrorism.
"We are happy at the great strides Nigeria is making in the field of
Peace and Stability and in the fight against Boko Haram. We have seen a
clear change of policy from the previous government to the new one. I
see that the Boko Haram has been cornered and the speed of the Army is
much better. I think everybody is much concerned that the fight against
Boko Haram should continue and be dealt with.
"We can deal with this issue through intelligence and need to develop
North Eastern Nigeria and through the European Union we have very large
programmes and funding for that aspect. We have to also develop the
social aspect which will be discussed at the forthcoming EU-African
Summit in Malta."
Speaking further, the Ambassador said that Spain had privileged
relations with Nigeria from the economic point of view, which they
"consider this relation strategic".
He disclosed that Spain is "Nigeria’s second best customer in the
purchase of petroleum and gas", adding "we bought in 2014, 6.5 billion
Euros, which is 8 per cent of the petroleum products and 12 per cent of
the gas consumed in Spain come from Nigerian".
"We are not only present in the oil sector. We are in the sectors of
engineering and construction in the agriculture- food-irrigation
sector. Spain is the 4th biggest economy of the Euro zone, the 5th of
the European Union and the 14th in the world. We have the will to
strengthen a mutually beneficial economic presence in Nigeria".
Sebastián de Erice listed Spain as the 11th global investor and the
second in South America, adding that "the changes that have occurred in
Spain are really impressive, if we take into account that, a little over
20 years ago, Spain was an aid recipient and, today, we are one of the
main donor countries".
-"Our companies are leaders in the sectors of renewable energy, thermal
energy; in fashion, banking, construction of hospitals, food industry.
We are leading consortia in some of the world's largest infrastructure
projects: high speed train Medina/ La Mecca, the Panama Chanel, or the
largest wind farm in Europe. The tourism sector is a must for our
economy. Spain comes first in Europe in the number of tourists
received. It is the fourth most visited country in the world.
"Spain is currently the fastest growing country of the European Union,
above 4 per cent of the GDP. We are the biggest producer of wind energy
in the world. The biggest refinery in Europe is in Turkey and is being
constructed by a Spanish company," he disclosed.
Some of the events listed for the one-week Spanish national day, which
is the platform for a series of cultural events include: Painting
exhibition based on Barceló and a retrospective of our 10 years painting
competition; Playwright represented by the Jos Repertory Theatre
sponsored by Nigeria LNG that gives an important literary prize in
Nigeria.
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